The sun was visible when Geldar knocked on the door Holkin the Prophet; he had to ask several people for directions, as Barb's description wasn't exactly accurate. He had to go up several flights of stairs to a tower that overlooked the city. There, at the balcony was an old man with a long flowing white beard.

"Are you who they call Holkin?" he asked.

"That I am," he answered without turning.

"I want to know if you saw anyone leave town last night," he asked, Holkin still didn't turn. "It's very important."

"People come and go all the time," Holkin said, still not turning. "Especially at night when events are afoot."

"It was very early this morning," Geldar explained patiently. "It was a dark cloaked figure on a horse; he had a large bundle on the back."

"Yes, yes, I now what you are talking about," he suddenly turned and looked at Geldar.

Geldar gaped, he tried to hide his astonishment but it was too late. Holkin had a gaunt and long face, his eyes had dark rings around them and were sunken in and were without a gleam or flicker. Barb had told him he hadn't slept for months, he found this not surprising.

"You seek Sinclair?" Holkin asked, taking a few steps and leaning on a tall, straight staff. "Beware, Paladin Geldar, these beings you seek are not what you think they are to be."

"Sinclair is like a son to me," Geldar said. "I have to find him, even if I have to search Sanctuary and both realms."

"The stranger you have seen headed north with the boy," Holkin said. "Once he reaches Khanduras I know not whither then."

"He could head east," Geldar said.

"And he could head north," Holkin said. "Speed is your ally, seek this stranger, and mark all that you find."

With that he turned his back on Geldar and returned to his seat on the balcony, Geldar was still standing there. Then he turned and went out the door, hastening to the inn where his horse was waiting.

It was there and waiting when he arrived, giving the board to Barb, with some extra gold for his troubles, he took the reins and led the horse off. Kathos was a sturdy steed, foaled in the northern ranges of Arreat where the barbarian tribes roamed. By chance Geldar had come across him one stormy night when his horse was shot from under him by a pack of skeleton archers. Ever since, their pairing had been one of trust and respect.

It was only when he came clear of the gates that Geldar mounted and urged Kathos to a gallop. Keeping to the road for a guide he hastened north, as Holkin had said, speed was his ally.

"I don't accept travellers in your guise," said the cautious innkeeper. "Not on my life I don't. Not with all the comings and going of vermin here."

"I'll pay you twice the board," Geldar promised, the rain snaking under his hauberk and down his neck. "And I'll give you my blessing from the Zakarum. But pity my poor horse, he has run from Duncraig on a full gallop since yesterday. Give him a warm stable and a hot mash and I will be content."

"Come in, come in," he said, and called for the horse to be taken care of. "But none of your blessings I'll have, mind you. I have a long passing against your kind."

Geldar had a hot meal alone at the bar, ignoring the pleas to have ale or share in his travels. He only asked if a dark cloaked rider had been seen recently, but many told him no.

Geldar began to worry, perhaps he had come too far north; they must have turned east. Ignoring the pleas to stay, he went up stairs to his room and sunk into a deep, dreamless sleep.

But someone had seen Geldar's aloofness and reserve with the rest in the bar; they had also observed his questions and response to the answers given. Pulling the dark hood over their face, they hastened upstairs, knowing it was fitting that they should meet.

Geldar suddenly awoke when he heard the lock release and the door handle turn. But he didn't rise or even open his eyes until he heard whoever it was enter the room and stand over him.

Then he sprung, clutching a dagger he kept under his pillow for this purpose, he lunged at his attacker, grabbing the throat and pinning them too the floor.

"Release me!" they ordered but Geldar ignored this.

He pushed the dagger home, but instead stabbed at the floorboards. He was now on the floor and the intruder was again standing over him. Geldar couldn't believe this, but before he had time to ponder over it there came a sharp kick in the ribs.

"Get up," came the command.

He started quickly to his feet and noted that the person opposite him was wearing a long black cloak with a deep hood that hid the face. This couldn't be the stranger that had approached him last night, he would have been approached in a different manner, and sooner. But this time he was not going to be fooled by disguise.

"Show me your face," he demanded. "Tell me who you are and whence you come. And why you have approached me thus."

"I suppose I should have spoken to you in the bar, but this seemed more discreet," they threw back the hood revealing the fine-boned features of a young woman, an attractive young woman Geldar noted. Her fair hair was braided at the back of her head and her piercing blue eyes were like beacons, watching his every emotion. This girl was not to be trifled with. "My tame is Talina," she said in a low voice. "I'm an Amazon from the island of Philios in the Twin Seas and I can give you answers on what you seek."

"An Amazon?" Geldar raised an eyebrow. "I haven't seen any of your kind here for a long, long time. Aren't you usually in the east around Aranoch and Kehjistan?"

"Mostly as my people have little to do with those in the west," Talina answered. "The Grand Mistress Ornatha, High Priestess of Athulua sent me on a quest that is no business of yours presently. But you must come with me now, haste is necessary and my quest is tied to yours."

"You know the cloaked rider I seek with my squire Sinclair?" Geldar asked and Talina nodded. "Have you heard or seen anything."

"He did not stop here," Talina answered bluntly. "He continued north. However, you would not find many in this place to give you an answer even if he was seen."

"I will be ready in a moment," Geldar said. "I'm Geldar, a Paladin of the Zakarum dedicated to purging the evil from Sanctuary."

"I know that too," Talina said acidly as she walked towards the door. "I will be waiting for you in the yard. Your horse will be ready; I know which one to prepare."

In half an hour they were on the road in the pouring rain, continuing north at a rapid pace. It was cold with the wind blowing the rain directly onto Geldar's face, he thanked dearly that Kathos knew the way. But no matter how high he pulled his cloak around his neck, he could not stop the rain dribbling down his neck like fingers of ice. The weather was bad enough, but this was worse.

The light from his aura was enough to see a few feet in front of him; the rest was a boundless blackness of rain. Then something, he did not know exactly what caused him to think of his brother. Lemnar, a Paladin like himself until he returned from the east changed in mind and soul. He had cast aside his orders to the Zakarum, fighting for what he truly believed was right and worthy.

His parting to slay the evil that betook Tristram was no small surprise, leaving his son in his care he left them quietly on a rainy night not so dissimilar to this. Unlike Sinclair, he did not believe that Lemnar was lost in the labyrinth, or the eternal slave of a demon army. There was a certain day when he felt his brother's spirit leave Sanctuary and enter another realm, though he could not be sure which.

Presently, the rain stopped as dawn neared, and when the first pink fingers began to touch the horizon the stopped at the side of the road and let their horse graze. Geldar removed his cloak, or rather peeled it off as the wet material clung to him like a second skin.

Wringing out the water and draping it over a tree branch to dry, he then noticed a small slight smell of smoke that consequently grew and was enveloped in a sweet smell he couldn't identify. He turned and saw Talina burning a few aromatic leaves over a small flame, murmuring words in a tongue he could not understand and raising her eyes skyward.

"What are you doing?" Geldar asked but Talina silenced him with a wave of her hand. "The smoke can been seen from a far way off." He added for good measure.

But his protests were ignored, either that or Talina didn't hear him at all. He watched her for a few minutes that turned away, reaching for his scabbard and realising it was not there. Muttering a few unhealthy words he went to his horse as he sometimes stowed it in the saddlebags. It wasn't there, and then he remembered he had left it under his bed at the inn and shouted a curse for all who cared to hear.

"What causes you to shout such uncouth words?" Talina said from behind him.

"I forgot my sword," Geldar said and noticed the look on her face. "No, I have a spare that I keep in a sheath on the saddle. But my best one I left at the inn."

"We'll there's nothing you can do about that now," Talina scolded. "Come on, we'd best be off, I want to get as near Tristram as I can before sundown."

"Tristram!" Geldar spat the word out and turned to Talina in surprise. "Are you serious? It's not the quiet hamlet it used to be or so I've heard. Going there is going into a den of evil."

"There are more 'dens of evil', Paladin Geldar, in Sanctuary than you realise," Talina had an uncanny act of stating Geldar's name as if it was an insult. "My mandate requests that I go there or die in the attempt."

"What exactly is your mandate?" Geldar asked. "You know my errand tell me yours. I won't stray another step until you answer me."

Talina had been reining in her horse and sighed and turned to Geldar as if it was an effort to do so. She had had enough of the nature of men away from her homeland, especially in the west.

"My mandate states that I must rescue Deckard Cain," Talina said. "My people are in more knowledge of these times than you are. He is the last descendant of the Horadrim, a vital part in the tapestry of the Sin War that is finally being revealed."

"That's suicide!" Geldar said. "You're going straight into the mouth of that evil, alone."

"Not alone," Talina said. "You will be with me."

"Me?!" Geldar couldn't believe this.

"I am willing to help you," Talina said in an acrid tone. "The least you could do is assist me with my quest. And aren't the Zakarum dedicated to protecting the innocent and eradicating Sanctuary of evil?"

"Yes," Geldar said, swallowing hard. "But I have been to Tristram myself and you cannot get there easily. The fields surrounding the village swarm with demons. And even if you pass them you are stopped by a high stone wall. You cannot approach Tristram from the outside; there is another way that I have heard in passing."

"Tell me," Talina ordered.

"The Sisters of the Sightless Eye know it," Geldar explained.

"Then we will go there," Talina answered. "Their Monastery isn't far from here is we hurry."

"Tell me it is what you know of the cloaked rider," Geldar ordered. "You said you had answers."

Talina sighed; she was not going to get anywhere if the two of them continued arguing. It was best for both of them if they set out on the right foot.

"I know not much but for the facts that I told you," Talina answered. "And what you already know. You were right not to trust him; he's a henchman of the legions of Hell. Just whom he serves remains to be seen."

"That fire," Geldar said looking over to the blackened grass. "That was-"

"Thanks to Athulua," Talina interrupted. "She's the goddess of the weather and the seasons. Not everyone has converted to your Church of Light."

There was a moment of silence, and then Geldar turned back to the tree and put on his dry cloak. Talina secured her spear on its support at the side of the saddle and mounted her horse. Within a few minutes they were off down the road.