The storm broke and buckets came down and we scurried to get our new items under cover, my people dragging the disgusting old dragon hide across the wet grass. We shifted everything under the kitchen tarpaulin that Godfrey used when cooking. The horses had calmed down and had naturally sought protection from the storm from the overhanging rocks that lined our eastern perimeter.
"Dimitri," I asked my friend, "would you see that these items are given out fairly?"
"I can do that," he replied as he looked at me with a strange expression. "Is there something wrong? You do not look good."
I could not explain to him what I had experienced nor the heartbreak of having been so close to perfection only to be denied its final vision, so I said to him, "I am fine, my friend. I...the Lammasu's gift was an understanding of magic that I had never experienced before. I need to rest."
Dimitri nodded and went off to kitchen shelter while I crawled in my seldom used tent. I opened my little pocket lantern and illuminated the interior of the tent. The rain slapped against the canvas as overhead the sky seemed to be trying to tear itself to pieces as it flashed and thundered with harsh abandoned. There was a small three legged folding stool with a leather seat not unlike a saddle in my tent and my bedroll was rolled up to one side next to my personal pack. I sat down heavily on the stool and held my hands to my head. The memory of the perfection I had heard was fading from my mind even as I tried to keep it there. I suddenly thought of the scrying mirror Argenta had given me and I tried to scry the realm of creation that Lowen had showed me but I failed. I sighed after some time and then tried to scry my home back in Gensmot. The image appeared in the mirror of my little shop and I could see it quite clearly. I broke the connection because seeing my little place, as humble as it is, brought on a bout of home sickness.
Next, I tried the necklace and with a little effort I got a result. First, the emotions of my companions came to me and then with a little more concentration I could read their thoughts. They were excited about the treasures they had gained with so little effort and that worried me. We had, I figured, gotten more enchanted weapons and gear handed to us than an adventurer would normally see in two lifetimes. I guess I am the pessimistic sort, because I had the firmest conviction that we would have to pay for these treasures sometime.
The Ring of Wizardry was a useful gift, it doubled my double spells I could use, they were the more minor of my spells but useful nonetheless. I pulled out my spells books and looked once more upon the Arcane symbols. Something, I quickly realized, had changed in me. Even with known spells, memorizing the symbols took effort. As I looked down now I could read, understand, and memorize the spells almost without effort, like a shopping list. It seemed so simple, I was amazed. I grabbed up the loose leaf pieces of vellum that contained the sixth level Mandalas, and I laughed as I could read it as easily as I could a first level spell. I had been banging my brain up against that mandala for weeks, and now I saw it clearly and what it meant and what power it was meant to invoke. However, I soon found out that if there was no spell I could not cast among my collection, I was still limited in the number of spells I could cast. From my limited list of sixth level spells I chose Tenser's Transformation. That spell would give me greater combat ability and with it, I could stand with the fighter's on a more equitable level, which might be necessary since we were still two fighters short.
Suddenly, I could hear the raised voices of my companions, I reached out with my new found mental abilities and discovered there was no alarm, only a heated discussion of some bit of treasure. I then realized that all of my companions were gathered around the treasure and that there was no one on guard. I started to get angry, but then feeling the excitement of my companions I realized that I should have expected them to be fully engrossed in the treasure.
Normally, I would have been just as engrossed and just as intent on getting what I figured was my fair share, but my thoughts were drawn back to the vision Lowen had shown me, and even thought the specifics continued to fade from my mind, I could still "feel" the perfection in my soul. After that, everything seemed a bit petty and I had no heart to squabble over things.
I grabbed my oil skin cape and threw it around my shoulders and I put my wide-brimmed helmet on my head and stepped out of the tent and walked over to my companions and informed them I would be on watch. I got some guilty looks in return as I reminded them about the dereliction of their duties, but no offers for anyone to join me. Tomorrow, I would have a talk with my people about leaving the camp unguarded
Thanks to Godfrey, the perimeter lights were up and the little harbor-like circle of stone we were camped in was well lit. I went to the edge of the light and walked slowly around our perimeter, clutching at my cape that the wind whipping around, and I held up my other hand against the wind-driven rain spraying me in the face. I was soon soaked to my bones despite my cape, but I endured the discomfort as best that I could. I did, however, remain vigilant and I used the flashes of lightning to see out across the land, as well as my medallion to search for thoughts in the dark. I detected nothing, but then on such a wild night, nothing should be out, but I was joined by Amenaruu.
"May I speak to you, friend Barrim?"
"Of course," I replied, "but you could not have picked a stranger time to do so with this storm blowing around us."
"You may be right," the priest said, "but then again no one can overhear us and I do not think we should, or that we even can, tell others what the sphinx showed us. I would ask you, what did you see, Barrim?"
"I…saw a word, a word so perfect it caused the creation of reality. All of the words I use my spells are but fragments of that one Word. But Lowen denied me the chance to see what was speaking the Word."
Amenaruu, his bald head hidden deep in the hood of the cloak he was clutching about himself, nodded in response.
"What did you see, Amenaruu?"
"I saw the Aten," he replied his voice filled with wonder "the speaker of your Word and I spoke…no I communed with him. I think I may be the first person since Pharaoh Akhenaten to have done so. I cannot tell you what it is we communed about really, it was more of an experience, a state of being, rather than a conversation, but I have come to understand much and I have much more I still need to meditate upon to understand it. However, you and the girl were central to the Aten's ideas. I am to assist you even to the point of giving my life for you. Do not look so shocked, I am more than willing to sacrifice myself at the behest of the Aten should that become necessary."
"You spoke with the sun?" I asked the priest, thinking about the sun disc he wore as a holy symbol around his neck. I was, I admit, jealous he was able to see what I had desired to see but was denied. My anguish must have been evident in my voice because he responded with an explanation.
"Do not be upset, my friend," Amenaruu said as he placed his hand on my arm. "I have spent twenty five years preparing myself to commune with the Aten. You have spent as long studying your magic, and that is what you were shown because that was what you were ready to see. We may have actually both seen the same thing, but in a different way. But to answer your question, I did not speak to the sun, I spoke to the Aten. Although the solar disc is to our order a perfect representation of the Aten, it remains a symbol only, since it was created and is not the creator."
I had to accept Amenaruu's logic, but I still could not help but to feel a loss at what I was denied, but we still spent almost two hours talking in halting sentences in a raging storm as we desperately tried to describe to each other that which is indescribable. Finally Petrio, one of our crossbowmen, relieved me with a sheepish smile. The storm had mostly died down by then and Amenaruu and parted ways. Most of the lightning was to our east and the wind had died down appreciably and the rain, which was still heavy but no longer a torrent, fell straight down to the earth instead being blown sideways.
Dimitri, walking with a staff I had never seen before, found me as I made my way back to my tent.
"Can we speak?" He asked me.
"Of course," I replied and we went into my tent. I began to change out of my wet clothes as Dimitri pulled a large bundle and a wineskin from out from beneath his cloak as well a smaller bundle from a large pouch. The larger bundle held my share of the extra magic items that had been allocated to me. The smaller bundle held bread and cheese and that interested me more for I had not for some time.
As I sliced wedges out of the wheel of cheese, Dimitri filled some wooden cups with wine.
"Everyone seems to be mostly satisfied with their share, although there was some disagreement."
"So I heard," I replied around a mouthful of bread and cheese.
"Most of what we were given was arms and armor, and those have been distributed. I took a pair of enchanted gloves and a shirt of Elven mail, Godfrey got a Decanter of Endless Water, Helena took an enchanted dagger and Cloak of Protection. With the ring the lady dragon gave her, she is much better protected than before. Brey took a pair of Gauntlets of Strength and Karl took a Dwarven throwing hammer, the damn thing returns to you hand when you throw it. Gerrex took a magical bow and arrows and small Dwarven farseer, which is a useful item for a scout. You got what is left."
"Thank you for doing that for me," I replied nodding.
"You are looking better, but your face is still drawn and pale," Dimitri said. "You should not have been out standing guard and that was my fault."
"I will feel better in the morning, after I rest. I will speak to our guards tomorrow about abandoning their duties. The roads will be terrible tomorrow with all this rain."
Dimitri frowned because he knew I was trying to change the subject, but he did not press me, and I really did think I would be fine in the morning.
It turns out I was right on both counts, I felt very well when I awoke and had my breakfast and the road was terrible mess of mud that tried to swallow our wagons and suck the boots off our feet. We got a late start and so I figured we would not reach the village of Sternberg until after midday. The sun had arisen in a clear sky and warmed the face of the earth and made the air sticky with humidity. As we went along, I could sense the annoyance of everyone at the mud, but I felt a particular bit of resentment coming from Merto, the shortest of the mercenaries. I had to discretely cast a Comprehend Language spell to understand him when I used my necklace to listen in on his thoughts. He was angry because he thought he had been cheated when the items had been distributed, and he was not necessarily wrong when he got stuck with a small stiletto that did not suit a fighting. I casually brought my horse next to his and I called Anton, who was nearby, over.
"Tell Merto, I said to Anton my interpreter, "I heard what got distributed last night and I think this magic dagger is better suited to a fighting man than a small stiletto, and if he wishes to trade them I will do so."
Anton relayed the message, which I could understand perfectly thanks to my Comprehend Languages spell and Merto was quite eager to make the trade. I did so with a smile and I left Merto a much happier man.
The dagger I had traded had come in the bundle Dimitri had brought to my tent the night before. With it had been a cutlass, not dissimilar in use than the short sword I normally carried, but knuckle bow engraved with nautical motifs gave extra protection for the hand. The staff Dimitri had brought me was a Staff of Striking, and there was also a wide belt, ugly and crude, but just as obviously enchanted. I put the belt on and I noticed nothing until one of our wagons got stuck and I easily picked up one corner of the wagon by myself. The belt was a Girdle of Hill Giant Strength. I thought for a moment about giving the belt to one of our fighters, but then I realized that I might well be called on to fight myself. Besides, I have long learned that having surprises, like a wizard with exceptional strength, could be incredibly useful.
Despite the mud, the citizens of Sternberg were in high spirits when we arrived. The city's markets and squares were full of people as we passed through. Sternberg was the last town of any real size before we left for the plains with about four thousand souls living there. We made our way through the entire town and camped on the other side of the town, upstream of what was sure to be a polluted river. We found a nice camping spot by the river under some trees with a lot of deadfall for firewood from the storm and we were soon joined by a trading caravan coming from east who had diverted, we soon learned, to this town since the rivers were flooded farther south and the ferries were not crossing.
"I would normally not bother to come all the way north to this place," Syzmon the merchant owner of the caravan told me, since he spoke Common. He was a stout fellow with a round red face under a fur-lined hat and a blue-black curly beard hanging down luxuriously onto the breast of colorful robes of wool. His head seemed to sit directly on his shoulders and he laughed frequently."
"Were you staying in Vidin?" I asked him. Vidin was a town near the passes on the western side of the southern Skarr Mountains.
"No, no," Syzmon replied, "I was in Pleven. I broke the snow trail through the pass between Pleven and Vidin. We had an early spring and I had the idea we could get an early start and be the first easterners in to trade. I thought myself clever as there was not a soul on the road, but the damned rivers have thwarted me."
"A merchant's life is hard one," I said to commiserate with him. Honestly, he looked like he was doing quite well.
"You have spoken truth with that saying, my friend" he agreed as he slapped my back, which I found out he liked to do a lot.
"Is there any news out of the east?" I asked him.
"The Stassi are having trouble with the Khans again," he said stroking his beard as he thought. "The kings of Fulvar and Cressci will likely join with the Stassi, although there is no love lost between those three, but the Khans have been coming farther west ever year and Fulvar and Cressci are having trouble on their eastern borders. Hindustan had several harbors wrecked in a terrible typhoon that came out of the Harrying Sea late last summer. They may join in alliance with the Stassi as well, if King Rava can quell the rebellion in his southern provinces."
Our conversation lasted only a few minutes more as Syzmon wanted to get his booth in the city market set up as soon as possible. During our conversation, I discretely listened into his thoughts and he was exactly what he says he was, a merchant out of Pleven with no ulterior motives or schemes.
With our camp set up, and my people admonished to stick with our story of being a hunting expedition, we set up a schedule for people to go into town and enjoy themselves and the festivities. Late in the afternoon, I went to town by myself and looked around. I have come to have an aversion to crowds, but this was a small city with wide streets, I did not feel too crowded. I passed jugglers and musicians and merchants and bakers playing music and selling their wars. There was single fountain in the city, a nondescript rock with water gurgling out of crack underneath a large cottonwood tree. I heard a flute playing a familiar tune in a familiar way. I followed the sound until I saw the player sitting with his back to the tall cottonwood tree.
"Chai!" I exclaimed in astonishment as finding my old friend.
Chai smiled at me and said, "I have come a great distance to find you, my friend!"