The three survivors leveled up.
It was unfair, Retha thought, that they should receive the reward though Eremes had done most of the work. She was the first to react after the stunned silence that had gripped them after the whitesmith had been defeated. Rushing forward towards Eremes's fallen body, she checked his body for a pulse. As she thought, there were no signs of life. A simple heal wouldn't be enough to save Eremes now.
Without thinking twice, she clapped her hands together, steeling herself for the task at hand. She had only done a few of these before in her lifetime. Forcing herself to concentrate, she crushed the blue gemstone.
She murmured the complex prayers and invocations that she had memorized when she was a lowly acolyte who had never imagined that she would actually be capable of performing a resurrection. Praying that it would work, she completed the chant and knelt down, examining him to see if she had succeeded.
His chest rose and fell, and the world was right once more.
Straightening up, she turned back towards Cecil Damon and Kathryne Keyron.
"That was the only blue gemstone we had," Cecil pointed out, a hesitant tremor in her voice. "Blue gemstones are what you need in order to create warp portals, aren't they?"
"I know," Retha replied. "Do you have a problem with how I used it?" Though she was a high priestess, there was nothing heavenly about the edge in her voice as she issued the challenge.
Cecil saw immediately that it would be prudent to avoid angering Sorin. "No, not at all."
"Good," Retha replied, her voice as cold as icy steel.
Eremes stirred, and she was at his side in a moment.
"You used…the blue gemstone," he said, the first words he uttered since his death. "You used it…on me?"
"Of course I did, you idiot," Retha replied, the words coming out a little harsher than she had originally intended them to be. "Though that was a brilliant plan with the enchanted deadly poison, it was also completely suicidal."
"It was the only way," he replied, and she had to concede that he had been right. If Eremes hadn't used the poison, there was no doubt that the four of them would have died then and there.
"True. But Eremes, please, please, never try that again. Resurrection can only be used on a person once, and besides, I don't have any more blue gemstones. I doubt that we'd have the strength to drag your body around until the moment I acquired another one."
In her peripheral vision, Retha saw Kathryne kneel down to pick something up.
"Retha," she said, sounding a little shocked.
"What is it?" she asked, fearing the reply.
"It's a card," Kathryne replied. "Blacksmith Howard Alt Eisen. Here," she said, offering it to Eremes. "I believe this belongs to you."
"I don't need it," Eremes answered. "My accuracy is high enough as it is, and I would rather not sacrifice speed for something unnecessary. We should keep it as proof that human experimentation was going on here."
Always logical, Retha reflected, envying Eremes's clearheadness not for the first time. For heaven's sake, he had just died and come back to life! She was sure that had she undergone resurrection, she'd be unable to think reasonably for at least a few hours.
The apprehensive atmosphere of the group intensified, and Retha realized that they were all waiting for someone to take charge. She stood up, brushing the dust off her robes.
"Well, I suppose that it is high time that we found this blacksmith. Let us set off in search of Alt Eisen and Seyren Windsor," she directed. "If we continue forwards, we should be able to find them. The rooms that we were trapped in are arranged in a circular pattern. If we finish the loop, we'll be able to regroup with Lord Knight Seyren and find Howard Alt Eisen."
And with that, staff blazing with light, Retha headed forward into the waiting darkness.