"Everything hurts," Anomen complained. Jaheira shot him a sideways look and opened her mouth to say something but he pre-empted her. "Not quite everything. Your herbs are working very well. Thank you Jaheira."

The cleric scratched his beard and tried to get comfortable. They were sitting outside watching the monks spar under torchlight. The Twofold did not let a little thing like nightfall get in the way of torturing each other. Outside the air was cold, but it was scarcely any warmer in the temple, and it actually felt quite good against their bruises and scorched eyes.

They were just unrolling their bedrolls (nobody felt up to putting up tents or gathering firewood) when Jaheira launched to her feet abruptly.

"Is that a bear?" she demanded. Yoshimo squinted but the white circle of blinding light was still obscuring his vision. Anomen and Arowan sat up reluctantly, the cleric still massaging his cracked ribs. At this rate he was in for a sleepless night, but he had to rest and recharge his spells if tomorrow was to be any better.

"Great heavens, I do believe it is," he declared.

A thousand pounds of muscle, sinew and fur was digging its long claws into the ground and moaning irritably. The monks were dragging the reluctant bear by a rope tied round his collar. It took a team of six of them to do it, and even then they only made progress when the animal stepped forward to try and swipe at them.

"They're taking it to one of the sparring rings," Arowan pointed. "Oh, no… I think they're going to fight it."

"They are NOT!" exploded Jaheira.

In the wake of Khalid's brutal death, her volatile temper had been dampened somewhat. It was good to see her back to her old self. Sun Soul and Dark Moon alike were backing away from the swinging staff and flaming rebukes of the incensed druid.

The half-elf was shorter than all of them, and the smallest of the monks must have been double her weight. Even without her injuries, any one of the muscular young athletes could have defeated her in hand to hand combat. One of them was unwise enough to try.

"You bullying cowards want to fight a bear?" Jaheira thundered. "I'll give you a bear!"

Her voice morphed from human to an animal growl and within seconds she transformed into a great brown grizzly. The monk challenging her was not put off. He performed a truly spectacular series of spins and jumps, demonstrating his elite martial skill. Unimpressed, she sent him flying into the nearest tree with one swipe of her paw.

It wasn't long before the remaining monks were scattering in panic, Jaheira chasing after them. Soon they were out of sight, though every so often a monk's squeal could be heard from beyond the rockery.

The real bear was staring wistfully after Jaheira. With a groan of effort, Arowan got to her feet and padded over. It seemed as though the creature was semi-tame. Cautiously and slowly, she approached him, unlatched the collar round his neck, then backed off hastily.

"W-i-l-s-o-n," she said, reading the name tag on the collar with difficulty. "Wile-son?"

"Wilson," Anomen corrected her. The bear was still looking ponderously in the direction Jaheira had gone. He laughed. "Forget it buddy, she's out of our league."

Whether Wilson had understood him, or whether he had figured out that Jaheira wasn't really a bear, the hefty creature shook out his biscuit coloured coat and lumbered in their direction. He seemed to be taking a peculiar interest in Yoshimo.

"What are you seeking my friend?" the thief asked, amused, as Wilson snuffed eagerly at his bag. "Biscuits? No. Water? No. Hang on, is this what you're after?"

The bear fished out a packet of mint-green herbs that Zaviak had given to Yoshimo at the Hidden Refuge. They had been so preoccupied that Yoshimo had almost forgotten he had them. Wilson let the pack dangle by his claw before their faces, let out a soft rawr, then dropped it onto the ground expectantly.

"What is it?" Anomen asked, suspiciously.

"This, Brother Anomen, is the solution to our having run out of healing spells!" Arowan replied, perking up considerably. "Nice find Wilson!"

"Rawwr."

"Should you be letting a bear munch on those leaves?" Anomen asked doubtfully.

"He's pretty insistent, I think it's a case of share or fight him," Yoshimo replied.

Arowan began stuffing the pipe as she had seen the thief do at the Hidden Refuge. The cleric sniffed disapprovingly. She was in far too much discomfort to care. By the time Jaheira returned, the Ilmatari had passed it back and forth between them a few times, the tell-tale smell hung in the air, and Wilson was lying on his back contentedly watching the stars.

"What in the name of Sylvanus are you doing child?" the druid demanded.

"It's medicinal," Yoshimo replied. He and Arowan both found this ridiculously funny. "For the pain."

"Anomen? You too?" Jaheira demanded. "I am disappointed. I would have expected more sensible behaviour from a cleric of Helm."

"I didn't touch it!"

"You're swaying," she observed haughtily. They were both correct. Anomen had not taken a drag himself but he had been sitting in close proximity to the fumes and was as high as a kite. He lay down with his hands behind his head dozily.

Jaheira snatched the pipe from Yoshimo's hands, but by this point both Ilmatari were too mellow to try and prevent her.

"Anyone feel like getting up?" Arowan drawled hopefully. "I could really go for some of Kelner's cookies round about now."

"How… how are you doing? Pain-wise?" asked Jaheira archly.

"I feel ok. That's why we did it. They're medicy… medcinial… mecidithingy!" Arowan smiled. Then she burst into giggles again.

She felt ok in other ways too. For once she was not thinking about poor Mazzy Fentan or reliving Khalid's death and the horrors of Irenicus's dungeon. It'd be easy to start doing this more often and escape into this calm problem-free world with its bright colours. Maybe too easy.

"I think this time should be the last time," she said to Yoshimo seriously. "I don't want these herbs to become my new numbing potions."

Jaheira looked doubtfully at the smoking pipe in her hand, then took a brief drag. She wrinkled her nose at it in distaste and sat down with the others.

"Hang on!" Anomen said slowly. "Weren't you berating me for that less than a minute ago?"

"I took a battering too!" Jaheira replied stuffily. "And chasing those bear baiting monks has made it worse. I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight, and if I can't sleep that means I can't replenish my spells and heal us properly in the morning."

"Good point," shrugged Anomen reaching for the pipe himself. He too had spells to refresh. He'd regret his choice very soon, but the little bit he'd inhaled from a distance had already lowered his inhibitions.

Wilson rolled onto his side and to escape the chill they moved their sleeping bags over so that they could curl up with the bear. Understandably, this strange scene attracted some curiosity from the passing monks. Before long, a semi-circle of Twofold followers were sitting in the lotus position around them, passing the pipe around. Jaheira was lecturing them, semi-coherently, about bonding with nature. Meanwhile Anomen had a herb-fuelled epiphany that Arowan really was his twin and their entire lives to date had been one long conspiracy by his father to keep them apart.

None of them noticed the shadowy figures ascending the mountain by the light of the moon.


Inside the Twofold Temple, the mood was grim. The beating was almost over, but Viconia was still drained by Alorgoth's shade monster and could offer Brother Kelner no healing.

"Don't look so down boy," Hammerhelm was comforting Rasaad. "Our brother lived through his punishment and will come out the better for it. Worthy aspirants, you have passed the test and earned your initiation into the Twofold Trust. Many more trials lie before you, but you have completed the first step. Come, I've had rooms made ready for you."

"Shall I fetch Jaheira and the others?" asked Rasaad.

"Er… no," replied the dwarf, looking suddenly awkward.

"What is it?" Rasaad frowned. "They haven't left the temple entirely have they?"

"No, it isn't that," Hammerhelm coughed. "It's just that while your friends did pass their trials, it has come to my attention that they may not be the best influence on the Twofold Trust. I must consult Darathon on what to do about them."

"What do you mean?" the monk asked, turning to Viconia, who shrugged.

"They, along with half of my students, are currently sat in a ring outside the temple with a wild bear, smoking the goddess-knows-what and braiding daisy chains," the older man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "But this is about you, not them. Rejoice in your success!"

Rasaad could take no satisfaction in his so-called victory. Yes he had successfully infiltrated the cult, but it didn't matter. The capture of the Tears of Selune meant that the Dark Moon knew exactly who they were and why they were there. What was worse was that because of his actions, Alorgoth now knew who the Servant of all Faiths was. He felt an utter fool.

The monk did not have long to meditate on his failure however. The main doors opened and a monk meandered in, closely followed by Rasaad's own party. As Hammerhelm had correctly observed, all six of them were heavily out of it. However, they were also armed. Rasaad and his former mentor were immediately alert.

"What is it?" barked Hammerhelm.

"Er… hey?" the monk began, waving a bit. "There are some guys coming up the mountain under the banner of Shar. I don't think they're, like, here to chill with us, you know?"

"What?" cried Hammerhelm and Rasaad together.

"Yeah. Collus Darathon is leading them but I dunno man… there's something different about him tonight. I'm getting some seriously bad vibes."

"Collus is leading an attack against us?" The dwarf suddenly looked very lost. "No, that cannot be! Why?"

"That man is not Collus, Master," Rasaad said urgently. "He is Alorgoth the Doombringer, and unless we act very quickly, we are all going to die."

"What? I…" Hammerhelm floundered for a moment, but then seemed to pull himself together. He drew himself up to his full height (all five feet of it) and barked to the sentry monk. "How many?"

"Four strike forces under the banner of the Dark Moon! At least a dozen men each!"

"That is not too bad," Jaheira said slowly. "We should stand a fighting chance."

"We'd stand a much better chance if you hadn't intoxicated my men!" Hammerhelm thundered.

"We'd stand a much better chance if you hadn't beaten us to within an inch of our lives and let Alorgoth drain Viconia of her powers!" Jaheira snapped.

At that moment, the door to the Room of Pain swung open. Bleeding and stumbling, Brother Kelner crawled out, followed by the four monks in charge of inflicting the beatings. They were smirking in a way that Arowan did not like.

"I see we're not the only ones," the druid remarked, looking down her nose at Hammerhelm. "Has it occurred to you yet that getting you to weaken yourselves before the Dark Moon attack may have been a deliberate strategy? Constant beatings! Sparring into the night! Tell me, how many of your men are fighting fit?"

"We are!" One of the Room of Pain monks smiled at them.

They formed a line and began advancing on the group. In a move that they had to have practised for dramatic effect, all four of them unclipped their Twofold badges at the same time to reveal the Dark Moon symbol beneath.

"Good," muttered Anomen hefting his mace. "My 'twin,' I believe we have a score to settle with these curs."

Suddenly Rasaad yelped in pain, and spun around furiously. Arowan had shot at the nearest Dark Moon monk, but missed and grazed his shoulder. Fortunately, it was not one of her fire arrows and the scratch was only superficial.

"Sorry," she said innocently. "Accident. Must be the herbs."

Only the others were not so sure that it was the effect of Yoshimo's leaves, because Arowan immediately switched to her usual fire arrows and her next five shots were dead on target.

A combination of the pain relieving herbs and a desire to get his own back invigorated Anomen. With an appeal to Helm, he gained a temporary boon of energy and strength which he used to charge the monks, striking at them with his mace. These monks were Alorgoth's spies, better trained in espionage and torture than in direct combat. Moreover, Anomen's intoxication had added a random element to his attack style, making his movements extremely difficult to predict and fend off.

While the party fought the four Room of Pain monks, Hammerhelm strode outside to organize the Temple's defence as best he could. Viconia, who was completely sapped of all her powers, flattened herself against the wall and tried not to draw any attention.

"Most impressive Anomen, to fight with such injuries! Like a fearsome samurai of the west you are!" Yoshimo declared as the last of the spies fell. Only one was alive. He was too injured to fight, but probably wished he had died like his colleagues. This was because Brother Kelner had crawled across the floor to him and was pummelling him in the scrotum.

"It was easy," boasted Anomen with a bark of laughter. "All I had to do was imagine that each one had Rasaad's face!"

Rasaad looked uncertainly at the faces of each of his companions. It was obvious that Arowan was not alone in having lost patience with him. They were all tired, injured and facing an unwinnable battle. With the exception of Viconia, all of them were looking murderous.

"I understand that you are all angry with me," Rasaad pleaded. "I accept that my decision to come here may not have been wise."

Nobody said anything.

"I am sorry."

Yells and screams were coming from outside. Hammerhelm was hurling orders around, but there was a definite undertone of panic in his voice.

"Rasaad, this is no time for your insipid naval gazing!" Viconia snapped. "We need to find a way off this mountain."

"You would leave these people to die?" Rasaad appealed to his party.

They all, even Arowan, responded with an emphatic; "YES!"

Then the ranger's eyes fell on Brother Kelner and Jaheira thought of poor, simple Erowan busying herself in the kitchens. Together they sighed a reluctant; "No."