Loyalty of the Tiefling

by JHMLYNDALE

The events of Mask of the Betrayer, but with the twist of Neeshka having managed to follow her harbour-boy… who is hers rather than Elanee's. Prologue, 25 chapters, Epilogue.

5. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Death God's vault was even gloomier than the Shadow Plane outside. Neither shadows nor death had to be evil, they were simple impersonal facts of existence, the reverse to light and life which themselves did not have to be good. Myrkul though had been a malevolent rather than, like Kelemvor, dispassionate god of death and this malevolence seemed to linger here. Neeshka had moved away from the door and was looking down at a pool.

"Is that blood?" asked Neeshka, keeping her face down and so hard for Blake to see.

"I hope not," Blake replied, finding it hard to judge colour in this plane. "Hmm…is that a glint in those shadows?"

"More than a glint harbour-boy," corrected Neeshka, looking across, and then managing to smile convincingly to Blake, "there's a half-celestial there."

"How…" Blake began to ask, peering into those shadows, "oh, of course your eyes are practical as well as beautiful."

They continued on, avoiding the pools in case they were blood, and after a dozen strides or so even Blake could see the half-celestial. To his surprise her armour was almost as heavy as his was rather than being leather like the half-celestials in Mulsantir had worn and while their skin tone had been similar to his or Neeshka's this woman's was closer to Gann's. This made Blake wonder if she was the lost Kaelyn the Dove but from the way Neeshka was reacting to her presence she did seem to be a half-celestial and it seemed unlikely there would be more than one female half-celestial in this place.

"There are few who would brave the tattered black gates that tie this shadow Mulsantir to its twin," the woman spoke, her voice somewhat tragic sounding. "Yet you have come, brave or not. What is your reason for coming here? Has something called you to this place?"

"If you are Kaelyn the Dove," replied Blake, "then you are my reason for coming here."

"I am, what business do you have with me?"

Blake glanced at Neeshka who was circling around and pretending interest in the mosaic to keep her distance from Kaelyn. "Then Tymorra has blessed me with good fortune in my search. Your siblings have been looking for you."

"That does not surprise me," said Kaelyn, also glancing at Neeshka and then at Gann "My siblings are loyal and, often, quite persistent… no doubt it was Efrem or Susah who you met. Possibly both."

"They did not share their names," Blake admitted, "but one was tall with a helmet with broad antlers and the other was shorter with raven-black hair."

"Efrem and Susah, the Stag and the Crow," nodded Kaelyn. "I have been cut off from the Menagerie for some time and it seems they have not given up the hunt. But it would be unlike them to surrender such a hunt, especially for their sister."

"They would be here themselves, but they felt it would violate their faith to enter this place. I have promised to return you to them."

"I cannot leave, not yet," replied Kaelyn, to Blake's annoyance. "I seek entrance to the depths of this Vault. The next stage of my pilgrimage lies there and this gate before me is but another obstacle placed in my path."

Blake looked at the gate, the strangeness of it making it hard to look away again, and then with a slight effort back at Kaelyn. "It does not appear to have a lock to be picked; do you know how to open this gate?"

"I have stood before this door and studied its surface for days countless," Kaelyn said poetically, "and let my eyes fall upon the black on black, the thin etchings of its surface. If you relax your eyes to the shadow, you see the true depths of the artistry of these mosaics, some written in ash, others in shale, slate, and dyed tile-black. Within these shades is a key. And once unlocked the path will continue on."

"She could have just said no," Neeshka muttered, sidling to Blake's side.

"Hrm," muttered Blake back with a nod, "or no, not yet."

"Take a look at this harbour-boy," Neeshka added, raising her voice to its normal level, "look familiar?"

Blake took a few steps and peered at the mosaic. He had to admit to himself that Kaelyn was right about the artistry of the work as Deneir had blessed its creator with great skill. Although old looking the tiles were still gleaming in their shades of black and grey and though the scene was chaotic the details of the depiction were clear. It was a battle somewhere, a melee of humans and fiends and others he did not recognise. There was a huge fiend in the centre of the battle and facing it a much smaller man, his sword raised above his head and its strange irregular shape and gleaming silver nature unmistakable even in mosaic form.

"Aye, familiar," Blake said, absently rubbing his chest, "The Sword of Gith…"

"Do you know that blade?" asked Kaelyn, showing some interest at that. "That figure holding it is Akachi, sometimes known as 'Akachi the Betrayer,' for leading a revolt against his own God. His blade was said to be a sword of silver. Its surface flowed like water over allies and friends, but it could wound the spirits of any enemy it touched."

"I know it, that is the Sword of Gith, she who led her people out of Illithid slavery before they warred and split into the Githzerai and Githyanki."

"I have heard of Gith," commented Kaelyn. "I wonder how Akachi found such an artefact and what happened to it after he fell."

"I don't know, but whatever happened to it in the intervening years the sword was found again a few decades ago by a warlock called Ammon Jerro. He needed a weapon against the shadow-weave corrupted guardian of Illefarn. Unfortunately the blade shattered in his hands when he struck."

"So it is lost again?" asked Kaelyn, her voice becoming yet more tragic sounding in her disappointment.

"I think so. Until recently, and since I was a baby, I had a shard of it stuck in my chest. The sword was reformed using the link that had formed between myself and it, but that link was broken when as well as taking the sword from my hand some abductors also cut the shard from my chest. Where the sword is now and whether it is back in pieces without the link I do not know."

"May Ilmater have comforted you for the suffering such cutting must have caused," said Kaelyn gently.

"Thank you," Blake responded with genuine gratitude.

"As to the blade, I feel it may be important but I trust that mystery may be revealed in time. Until then I must seek answers about Akachi, the man rather than his weapon."

"Can you not delay that search?" Blake asked, remembering his purpose in being there. "Your siblings are concerned and you can return once you have reassured them."

"No," replied Kaelyn simply before adding. "I have not explored far beyond this Great Hall as Myrkul's priests, now mummified, still carry out his rituals in the side chambers. Until I was ready, until I had completed my studies of this gate, I did not want to reveal myself to them."

"They sound a problem," Blake admitted, feeling suspicious as to what was coming, "but not one your leaving for a while would worsen."

"I cannot lie to others of the Menagerie," explained Kaelyn. "If Efrem or Susah ask me of what dangers I face here I will have to tell them… and if I tell them then they will insist on aiding me. I do not wish them to come here and further defy Kelemvor or our grandfather."

"Ahhhh," Blake breathed as his suspicions were confirmed and Neeshka narrowed her eyes at him as she knew his helpfulness. "So before you are willing to leave this place you would require it to be made safe so your siblings do not feel they need to accompany you back?"

"That is my thought," admitted Kaelyn calmly. "If it is unacceptable to you then you are free to go, but I would ask you to do what I cannot and lie and tell Efrem and Susah I am safe and need no help."

"Come here harbour-boy," Neeshka demanded, her lips tight.

"Excuse me a moment," said Blake diplomatically.

Kaelyn nodded and turned back to her silent contemplation of the mosaic and door. Gann paused and then joined Neeshka and Blake as they moved away. Neeshka gave Gann a slight glare but visibly decided not to protest as she accepted this was his concern as well. Blake and Gann looked at the irritated looking Neeshka for a moment before she spoke.

"She is manipulating you," Neeshka accused, "taking advantage of your conscience by saying you can leave her in danger and lie to her brother and sister about it."

"I disagree," said Gann, earning a frown from Neeshka. "I think she is speaking nothing but pure truth. How we react to that truth is not something I believe she would consider."

"My instincts are to help her," Blake admitted, "but whatever my heart says my head has a question. Would whatever we might face here be more dangerous than facing Okku's army without the aid of her siblings."

"I know little, nothing almost, of fighting undead," replied Gann. "In Rashemen it is rare that a spirit doesn't move on or, if worthy, become a Telthor. What I do know is the power of the bear-god and that his rage was painful to my senses even when we were well away from the gate and walls."

Blake nodded, that seemed to be a vote for helping here. "Neeshka?" he asked as she remained silent.

"I'd rather get as far away from her as possible," Neeshka said, frowning at Kaelyn. "Even if Gann is right, and she is not trying to play your good nature like a lute, she is still making my skin crawl worse than even her siblings did."

"So you think we should leave her?" asked Blake, keeping his feelings out of his voice.

One corner of Neeshka's mouth quirked in a fond smile for Blake. "I think you would feel bad if we did, and that unless we hit her on the head and drag her out of here we're not getting her back to Mulsantir without helping her first."

"And if we did that then her siblings might decide to not aid us," Gann pointed out, "feel you have violated the spirit if not the letter of your promise."

"Very well, we will aid her in exploring this upper level but, even if we find a key to that gate, we are not going deeper if she decides to descend rather than return. My conscience and the aid of her siblings is not worth that much."

They moved back across to Kaelyn who turned to face them with serenity that Blake found unsettling. She seemed to not care what they had decided, to not care whether she was going to be left staring at a door or be helped to find answers. That patience more than her wings reminded Blake that those of the upper planes in their enlightenment were alien to the thinking of mortals while those of the lower planes with their lusts were, unfortunately, much easier for mortals to understand.

"We will aid you," Blake informed her, "let us see what we can find together on this upper level."

"Let us see what good we can achieve by our alliance," replied Kaelyn, not betraying if she noticed that emphasis, "and may Ilmater bless our endeavour."

As Kaelyn spoke she also gestured slightly and for a moment the Death God's vault seemed to be lit. Blake felt a measure of extra strength and skill enter him and realised there was more to Kaelyn's words than just words. "You are a Cleric of Ilmater as well as a follower?"

"Yes."

Blake nodded and moved across to the door to the right of the gate down. He tried it and crouched slightly to peer into the lock as best he could. With gauntlets on he knew he had no chance of picking it and even at his best he had less chance than Neeshka did. "Can you do anything with this my love?"

Neeshka came to join Blake, wincing almost imperceptibly as she came closer to Kaelyn who was gazing at the door. Blake noticed the wince though, his love for Neeshka making him sensitive to her expressions, and he wished he had tried to pick the lock himself. "Let me see," she said, inserting a lock-pick. She fiddled for a few minutes, concentrating as best she could with Kaelyn nearby and trying different angles to apply pressure, before shaking her head. "Hmm…no."

Blake nodded. "Well, at least that makes it easier to decide where to search first," he commented before starting towards the other side of the chamber.

"Wait," Kaelyn protested, as much as her supernaturally calm voice allowed, "are you sure this door cannot be opened?"

"Believe me," replied Blake, "if Neeshka cannot pick a lock then there are very few people in this world that could."

"That I can believe. She seems…experienced at such things."

Blake looked at the two women looking at each other, the one with blood of the lower planes and the other with blood of the upper. It was possible that as much pain as Kaelyn's presence was inflicting on Neeshka that Neeshka was inflicting the same on her. Blake considered asking Kaelyn if this was the case but there was the problem of how to ask without also revealing her effect on Neeshka. As Blake tried to think of some way the moment passed, so he shrugged and resumed moving towards the open doorway.

Passing through the doorway the room ahead seemed empty until with matching groans Mummies lurched forward out of the shadows. Kaelyn had at least been right about what was present, though Blake did not get the impression that enough intelligence remained in these forms for them to perform rituals. Stopping almost in the doorway Blake blocked the passage of the others.

"Why…" Kaelyn started to ask.

"Wait," Blake replied, watching the slow approach and how the mummies funnelled together as they passed between the same two stone tables

He started to chant and cast his spell of Firebrand; the single ball of fire formed and split into a few that struck the Mummies. The dry old cloth wrapping them blazed into flame with the eagerness of kindling and barely had the fireballs struck before the Mummies were almost covered in those flames. But while those flames ate at their wrappings rather than the almost equally flammable desiccated flesh beneath them they continued to shuffle forward.

"Congratulations," commented Gann sardonically, "they were hostile, now they are hostile and on fire."

"True," Blake admitted, before switching to his command voice, "Retreat!"

Neeshka moved instantly, though this was the effect of her trust in Blake rather than any effect of his voice. Kaelyn and Gann moved a few steps automatically, obeying without thinking, before they realised what they were doing. As those few steps had moved them out of the way of the doorway and Blake was continuing on, assuming they would follow, they kept on after him after a brief hesitation.

Blake was loosening the straps of his shield as he moved back at a fast trot towards the doorway out. He bent and slid this shield off his arm and then straightened and reached into his magic bag and withdrew the longbow that appeared too long to fit in such a bag. With practised skill Blake reached back in, withdrew a bowstring, and then hooked the loops at each end over the ends of the bow. A glow announced the mummies were making their way through the doorway, pressing together and hampering each other as they shared their flames with each other.

Another dip of Blake's hand into his magic bag drew out a quiver of arrows that he quickly hooked onto the loop his armour had for that purpose. Seeing what Blake was doing Neeshka had taken her shortbow from that magic bag and strung it, though the smaller size of her shield meant she was able to use her bow with it still on her arm. As Neeshka drew a quiver of arrows from that same magic bag Blake flexed his chest and back and longbow and then released an arrow towards the Mummies. Even with the dimness of the Shadow Plane the fact these were burning made them visible to human eyes at bow range.

There was a slight spark from the stone floor as the arrow missed, whistling past the mummy's legs and skipping off the floor into the wall. Blake drew another arrow from his quiver, pulled back on his bow, and sent another arrow towards the mummy, but again with no result than a spark of metal against stone. Even at their slow shuffling pace the Mummies were getting closer and Gann gave Blake a look of concern.

"What are you trying to…" Gann began to say, before trailing off. "Oh."

Blake's third arrow had more luck than the first two, or less luck for itself since it started burning, and thunked into the mummy's knee. The undead's already unsteady gait became far more so as the broadhead arrow sliced through that joint. A living creature would have been felled by this, by the pain of the hit and by the pain of trying to use the mangled leg, but the mummy managed to keep shuffling until Blake's next arrow went into its other knee. As it finally fell the mummy was reduced to crawling and dragging itself towards them.

Neeshka had realised faster than Gann what Blake was intending and though her bow was less powerful than Blake's her skill with it was, perhaps, greater. Another mummy fell as her bow sang and the arrows quivering in them destroyed its knees. Something as small as a knee was not easy to hit even at this relatively short range but as the mummies lurched closer this became simpler.

Blake cursed to himself as a mummy toppled to one side and his arrow missed. Whether through happenstance or some remaining intelligence the mummy had either fallen or thrown itself into one of the pools, their motions were so clumsy it could have been either. As Blake expected when the mummy rose from the pool it was no longer alight and so Blake shifted his aim to one that still was. One that if forced it to crawl would likely burn completely before it reached them.

"Eww," Neeshka commented, "what a smell, but at least it answers the question of it that was blood or not."

"I find it disturbing that you recognise so easily the smell of burnt blood," Kaelyn sniffed, a tinge of disdain entering her otherwise emotionless voice.

Neeshka ignored this in favour of putting another arrow into a mummy's knee, hers arriving a moment after Blake's and sending that mummy to the floor. Blake glanced at the approaching foe, at the two still on their feet and the three crawling determinedly, and nodded to himself. Rather than draw another arrow he instead grasped the quiver and unhooked it before crouching and swiftly placing it and his longbow on the floor. Straightening he drew his sword into a two-handed grip.

Kaelyn saw this and did not wait, she sprang forward, her wings flapping once and adding their own impetus to that of her legs. She had chosen the walking mummy that was still on fire and as it swung at her little fragments of burning cloth came free from its arm and fluttered to the floor. Kaelyn easily deflected that blow with her shield and then brought her mace around and crunching into its skull. Old dried bone crumpled around the head of the mace as the blow nearly took the mummy's head off, the desiccated flesh of its neck tearing rather than stretching. As the mummy fell Kaelyn whirled her mace back and around in an arc to place another blow into the mummy's back and turn the age-weakened vertebra of its lower spine into dust.

Blake's attack came a moment later, directed against the mummy that had managed to extinguish itself. His sword was longer than Kaelyn's mace and his shield was on the floor so he used that extra reach. In some ways his tactics were the reverse of Kaelyn's as he first swung for waist rather than head. The mummy's arm was still by its side but the power of the blow and the magical keenness of the blade sliced through its decayed arm bones with ease before almost cutting the mummy in half. It collapsed to the floor, held together by only a few strands of cloth and flesh, and Blake used the subtle method of taking a quick stride forward and then stamping on its head. There was a distinct crunch as if he had accidentally stepped on a snail and as the upper jaw and cheekbone were pulverised a few teeth escaped to scatter across the floor.

Glancing across Blake was pleased to see Kaelyn had been satisfied to leave the mummy she had dealt with to burn with a few feeble twitches. Gann was also being cautious and simply using his spearhead to taunt a crawling mummy into crawling in circles as it finished burning. This mummy soon subsided, as did the other ones that were on fire, and though the smell was unpleasant the light of the fires as they continued to burn did add a certain cheer to the room.

Blake gave the not-burning mummy a suspicious glare and considered whether its bandages were too sodden with blood from the pool to burn if he tried re-igniting it. Deciding they were he instead gave his sword a quick wipe before scabbarding it to free both hands, then crossed to where he had left his things and unstringing his bow put it and his quiver back in his magic bag. After a moment's consideration and taking the time to strap his shield back onto his arm Blake wandered across and started looking for the arrows that had missed the mummies and thus not been burnt.

Neeshka rolled her eyes as Blake picked up the arrows and examined them. Arrows were cheap unless they were imbued with magic, and if they were thus imbued that magic would discharge when they hit something and make them as little worth scavenging as arrows that had never been magical. On the other hand, Neeshka smiled, even if Blake did think it worth his time to try to save a few coin on arrows he did also think it worth far more coins to make his Tiefling happy with gifts. Or far more time on just making her happy in other ways.

"I can see why you were being cautious," Blake commented to Kaelyn as he tied the used arrows together with a cord.

"With Ilmater's aid I would have prevailed," replied Kaelyn. "But I do thank you for the assistance."

Blake nodded to this and, having stowed the few arrows away, drew his sword and led the way back into the now mummy-free room Neeshka inclined her head subtly towards the vases and skeletons and Blake shook his equally subtly in return. It was not likely Gann or Kaelyn would object to some looting, or that there was anything of enough significance out here that removing it would draw the wrath of dead-Myrkul, but no need to take the chance. Neeshka gave an exaggerated pout before winking and continuing on past the chance for far more gold than several quivers of unenchanted arrows would have cost. As they approached a set of short stairs Blake hesitated and looked around.

"Do you hear that?" Blake frowned, tilting his head and considering removing his helmet to hear better.

"Sort of scratchy," replied Neeshka, her backward-swept pointed ears larger than Blake's and uncovered. "Sounds like you working your way through ledgers."

"When did you ever hear me do that?" Blake asked, glancing at her with some puzzlement. "As I recall writing was the last thing on my mind, on either of our minds, when you were in my room and near my desk."

Neeshka just smiled and let Blake be paranoid about whether that had been the first time she had been in his room, or whether there was some place she could have concealed herself where she could hear what he was doing. Blake shook his head and decided that for now there were things of greater importance to dwell on.

"I can feel spirits around us, but not hostile," Gann reported, "in fact barely aware of our presence so intent are they on a task."

"The scratching in the air…" Kaelyn said with realisation. "They are the spirits of the scribes, still penning Myrkul's scriptures even in death."

"Even in the death of both them and Myrkul it seems," Blake commented.

Descending the stairs Blake looked at the Gong placed at its base and then at the great books on equally large stands around the chamber. The gong was as old as the rest of the vault and the centuries that had passed had coated it with tarnish. Nevertheless the etching on it was still clear in how it depicted a procession of scribes each carrying their quills and books as they walked. Blake extended his sword hand, hesitated, and then lightly skimmed the pommel of his sword in a glancing blow across the Gong.

As the gong reverberated the spirits faded into view. Each was intent on their own great book, their quills tirelessly passing across the pages with the constant scratching that had revealed their presence. Even when Neeshka came and peered over one's shoulder he ignored her and continued writing. Blake looked at them and considered whether to interrupt their work with speech or deed, but then he noticed one scribe not writing. That figure's attitude and the slight extra ornateness of his robes seemed to suggest he might be in charge so Blake crossed to him instead.

"Greetings," Blake said simply, half expecting to be ignored.

The ghost turned with the slowness of a rusted shut door, something that had not moved in years and was unaccustomed to the idea, to look at Blake. A flicker of puzzlement lit his eyes as he finished turning and his eyes met Blake's. After another moment the ghost remembered how to speak as well as move. "A tale of deception is writ plain upon your soul, supplicant," the ghost said, "and you are both the deceiver and the deceived. You will not find truth within these walls, but when you see the lies for what they are you will return to us I think."

"Pardon?" Blake frowned slightly again. "What deception? And what lies? Can you speak plainly?"

"I cannot," replied the ghost. "My eyes are trained to read the words and discard the meanings. Thus it has always been. I am Deimodias, Chief Scribe, and supplicant before the Lord of Bones. All that passes through my lord's gates is recorded within these tomes and ledgers. We record, my scribes and I, but we do not remember. Our scribblings are the mind and the memory of Myrkul's vault."

"Ah," Blake breathed with a small degree of understanding, "so you know things have been written, but not what those things meant. But Myrkul was slain long ago so why do you still labour here for a dead God?"

"It is words that bind us to the Vault of our Lord," Deimodias replied. "Our souls are graven upon its walls, our names writ upon its foundation stones. When one scribe replaced another the name of the old scribe would be wiped clean and he would be free to pass beyond, to the City of Judgement, to join with the Scriveners who came before." The spirit paused and let out an immaterial sigh of memory and longing. "But supplicant, a great betrayal was committed here and we stood by and watched…. so taken were we with the traitor's resolve… with the dream that he spun for us, in words and deeds. And when that treachery was put to an end we were held to account with all the rest. Ours was a simple retribution, an effortless thing. No more scribes were appointed and our names were never wiped clean… and so here we remain."

"You speak of Akachi's Crusade?" Kaelyn asked almost eagerly. "You witnessed it."

"That is what we called our treachery, yes," replied Deimodias, face and voice souring in bitter memory. "A pretty mask… to hide an ugly face."

"Or now you use an ugly mask to hide a beautiful one," Kaelyn contradicted.

"If you were mere bystanders then your punishment hardly fits your crime," interrupted Blake before the two could argue.

"Ah, but you do not know the nature of our treachery," Deimodias commented. "We have always held that our punishment was just and deserved, so we will speak no more of it."

"I see no justice in this," protested Kaelyn, "only that you were martyred for your deeds."

"I said we will speak no more of it," Deimodias replied firmly. "Do you have other questions?"

"We seek entrance to the lower level and knowledge of what may be found there," said Blake, not entirely truthfully as that was Kaelyn's goal rather than all of theirs.

"All that is contained within our ledgers you will find in the chambers below," Deimodias informed him. "Ancient tomes… prisoners… and treasures of the faith."

"Prisoners after so long?" protested Blake in disbelief.

"This is a vault of a god of death," Deimodias pointed out, "his servants still linger, so may his imprisoned."

"Indeed," said Blake, lips tightening at that idea before he continued. "What sort of ancient tomes? I have a book that mentions something called the Lamentations of the Dead, which could be of use to Kaelyn here."

"The Lamentations of the Dead?" Kaelyn asked in surprise. "I have heard of this, you know more than I thought of the path I seek to follow."

"Every book of the faith was brought to this Scriptorium and copied by my scribes…or those that preceded us," replied Deimodias. "All were delivered into the archives below to be tended by our mummified remains, even after our souls ascended to the City of Judgement."

With that Deimodias turned away and back to his massive ledger. Blake wondered if they were going to now be ignored as the spirit narrowed his eyes, but the words Deimodias was mouthing to himself seemed strangely familiar. Pondering how he could be almost comprehending a language he had never heard before took long enough for Blake that Deimodias finished and turned back to them.

"And yes," Deimodias finished, having consulted his records, "the scroll you seek is contained in the archives below."

"But how do we get the gate open?" demanded Kaelyn, feeling that knowing how to get to a scroll was as important as knowing it was there.

Blake glanced across at Neeshka just in time to meet her eyes as she glanced at him. Kaelyn might now be more motivated to get past that gate and descend into the lower level but this news did not change things as far as they were concerned. They had agreed they would not descend and this exchange of glances was enough for each to confirm to the other this agreement still held.

"Our high priest held the key," Deimodias calmly replied. "I do not know his fate… it is not recorded in our ledgers."

"Then we shall discover his fate," declared Kaelyn confidently.

"Hmm," Blake said, wondering if politely saying 'we' earlier had made Kaelyn think he shared her goal. "Well, farewell to you scribe."

"And to you supplicant…"

Blake glanced back the way they came, back up the short flight of stairs and nodded as he looked at the open doorway. Unless they left, which Kaelyn would refuse to do, there seemed only that way. Cautiously climbing the stairs and flexing his sword-arm a little to loosen it for use Blake peered through the doorway. There seemed another rectangular pool of blood beyond crossed only by a narrow bridge.

"Caution," Blake muttered.

"Worried about traps harbour-boy?" asked Neeshka.

"Traps. Ambush. If the bridge is rigged to collapse or tilt. What might be lurking beneath the blood…"

Despite Blake's paranoia they managed to cross the bridge without dying, though as they neared the far end they slowed. Three armoured figures were kneeling before an altar and were kneeling with perfect stillness. Blake tried to move quietly to study them without them noticing. It wasn't clear if they had died while at prayer or had died while at prayer but were still praying now in undeath. But he'd barely managed to note how battered and charred their armour looked before they rose. As expected the faces beneath the helmets were nothing but skull, and even without flesh to form expression they conveyed hostility and hatred.

"What mortal dares to disturb us?" one grated, speaking without breath or throat to shape that breath "You will never leave this place alive, and when you are dead, I shall see to it that you join us in our eternal vigil."

Neeshka snorted. "I've been waiting too long already, not letting you make me wait an eternity."

For a moment Blake was baffled, to the extent that the first attack almost caught him by surprise. His reflexes took over and he parried but then a blush of embarrassment rather than exertion spread across his face as he realised what Neeshka had been waiting for. There had been a distinct lack of private, safe, and comfortable places the last few days. Given fresh motivation by memories of why he had not slept much before the final battles against the undead at Crossroad Keep Blake struck. As in the chambers beneath the barrow his sword was more than a match for the aged armour covering these undead. This armour seemed less decrepit but his sword still sheared through it and the bone of the forearm beneath. To make matters worse for their undead foe it was they that were outnumbered rather than vice versa.

Gann stabbed his spear out, the head sinking precisely into one eye-socket of his chosen target. He shifted his grip on the shaft and levered his spear upwards; there was a distinct popping noise as the skull came free of the spine, the joint unable to support the weight of the undead's armour as Gann lifted it onto its toes. The weight then came onto the top of the skull as the chainmail hood beneath the helmet came taut, the spearhead moving upwards slightly as the bone of the forehead was crushed between it and this hood. Gann pulled his spear back, the cracks in the skull widening as the spearhead tore free, and the undead fell. The force of the fall finished what Gann's spear had done, its skull fracturing into shards of bone that no longer had the shape to hold the helmet on and, as that bounced away, spilled out of the chainmail hood.

Kaelyn swung her mace at the undead with the misfortune to be facing her, and crushed one upper arm into powder. Such a blow would have broken Blake's arm despite his better armour. Against an undead that had neither padded shirt nor flesh to cushion a blow, both having rotted away, it was devastating as the shock of the blow transmitted straight into bone made brittle and dry by age and death. Without skin and muscle to keep its arm together the undead suddenly found that arm nothing but bones settling into the end of the bag its sleeve and gauntlet made. The absence of flesh also meant an absence of pain though and the undead simply started to attack with its other arm. Started, but not finished as Kaelyn brought her mace back and then stabbed it forward in a short punching blow into the open face of the helmet. The undead collapsed backwards as the front of its skull was crushed into powder.

The undead Blake had attacked had staggered back a step or two. It had been less inconvenienced by Blake's blow than its fellow had been by Kaelyn's as its forearm had been taken cleanly off rather than its entire arm dangling at its side to hamper it. But it had still wanted a little room to move and now it used that space to build a little speed as it hurled itself into a charge at Blake. With good, though not perfect, timing Blake sidestepped and then slammed his shield into the undead to deflect its charge a little and keep it going and slightly off balance. Neeshka dropped, pivoting and sweeping one graceful leg around to trip the undead. There was a clank as the undead fell onto its chest on the stone floor and then a brief scraping noise as its breastplate slid across the short distance between where it had fallen and the edge of the pit before the undead went heels-over-head into the blood. Blake turned and watched but there was no sign of the undead rising out of the blood. Cautiously he crossed and looked down and saw no sign of it.

"At least now we know how deep that blood is," Blake commented.

"Rather too deep," replied Gann, casting a look at the edge, "and although even laden as I am I could swim I prefer not in such a pool."

Neeshka, with her better sense of priorities, had already begun examining the two destroyed undead she could reach to make sure they really were destroyed and see if they had anything useful or interesting secreted about them. Kaelyn had watched this with a little disdain for the practised ease with which Neeshka went about the process. "Key here harbour-boy," Neeshka reported, ignoring though noting Kaelyn's attitude.

"I am glad it was on that undead," Gann gestured towards the pool, "rather than on that one."

Neeshka nodded and moved across to the edge of the pool, looking down into it with an expression of consideration.

"As Gann said," Blake pointed out, "rather too deep. We could try fishing with a grappling line, but it would be difficult to snag anything."

After a moment Neeshka shrugged prettily and came back to show Blake the key. "Looks like a normal key to me."

"Which implies it would fit a normal lock," Blake replied, "which means more likely the door than the gate."

"Only one way to be sure," grinned Neeshka.

They crossed the bridge again with mixed feelings. They were now confident that there were no traps but they also knew now just how deep the blood filling the pit beneath it was. The scribes had returned to ghostly invisibility though the scratching of their quills still revealed their presence. After giving the gate down to the lower level another long glance to confirm the slit down its middle bore little resemblance to a keyhole Blake nodded to Neeshka. She smiled and winked to Blake, conveying to him if not the others her feeling that using a key on a lock was cheating or at least not as much fun as picking it. The key smoothly turned and then there were two clicks from within the lock. Neeshka's eyes narrowed in mild suspicion as she tried to turn the key the other way, and as she had suspected found this impossible. A very slight push on the door moved it a fraction of an inch and showed it, unlike the key, was free to move.

"Door's unlocked," Neeshka reported, stepping back away from it a little, "but the lock has… well… locked and trapped the key so we can't relock the door or remove the key."

Blake nodded. "Hopefully we won't find anything we want to lock the door against. Gann?"

Gann looked at Blake a moment before understanding and reversing his grip on his spear. Holding it near the head he gently pressed the butt of it against the door, near the seized up lock, and pushed slowly but firmly. With a creak, though with smoothness that showed the hinges were still in good condition after perhaps not moving for centuries, the door opened and revealed another shadowed chamber. Blake moved forward to block the doorway with his heavy armour and shield, Kaelyn half a step behind him as her armour was almost as heavy and her shield almost as large.

"There," Kaelyn said, pointing.

Blake looked and nodded as the Mummy shuffled forward and into enough light for his merely human eyes to see. A groan from the other side of the room revealed there was a second Mummy, but no other groans or shuffling noises joined those two so it seemed there were just those two. Blake padded forward a couple of steps to meet the nearest and then twitched his sword up and drew the tip of it diagonally across the Mummy's belly.

On a living opponent that would have disembowelled them but part of mummification was removing the bowels. Blake's sword still sliced though layers of dry cloth though and its wrappings were a lot of what was keeping the Mummy together. As the cloth was cut and tension released the Mummy staggered and sagged slightly. Kaelyn took advantage of this opening and brought her Mace down in a powerful blow, lifting herself up onto her toes with a stroke of her wings so she could put her weight into it. As mace head met Mummy head the latter flattened like a wineskin being drained and seemed to vanish.

The other Mummy had found its forward progress arrested as Gann's spearhead sank into its chest. This would have been a fatal blow against a living opponent but the Mummy just kept trying to move forward, driving the spearhead deeper into itself as Gann held it at bay. With a ripping noise the spearhead tore through the cloth and dried flesh of the Mummy's back and it started sliding itself along the shaft of the spear. Despite this Gann seemed surprisingly calm for someone whose weapon was trapped and who could see an undead creature slowly but surely approaching him.

Then Neeshka stepped forward and her rapier flicked out three times, slicing the Mummy along one side of its neck, then the other, and then across the front. Any of those three slices would have been a fatal wound if the Mummy had blood still pumping through the arteries or breath through the windpipe she had severed. Against the Mummy it was still fatal, if such a word applied to undead, as the three cuts combined were enough to send its head bouncing off across the floor. The headless Mummy collapsed and Gann hissed in irritation.

Seeing Gann's problem Blake came back across to him and braced him. Gann nodded to Blake, and then lifted one foot off the floor to place it against the Mummy's chest and, as he also tugged back with his arms, shove it back off his spear. There was a slight crunch as the Mummy's ribcage splintered and Gann's spear came free. Gann nodded his thanks as he shook his spear a little to dislodge any remains stuck to it.

Blake nodded back and continued towards the opposing door. This opened into a corridor that led to their left and was lined by yet more vases. As they moved down this corridor Kaelyn suddenly paused and shuddered. It was hard to tell in the perpetual gloom, and with her skin already being grey, but Blake had the impression she paled slightly before she started moving down the corridor again. After a moment he decided to speak.

"What happened then?"

"Many died in this place," Kaelyn replied to Blake, looking distracted rather than serene for an instant. "Their spirits lie thick here, like smoke."

"I feel something as well," said Gann, frowning slightly, "there is turmoil ahead of us."

"Er, harbour boy…"

Blake looked towards his sweetheart and saw that, having been uninterested in whether Kaelyn was unwell or not, she had moved to be able to peer around the corner they were approaching. She was pointing around this corner so Blake took a few quick strides to join her and peer down into the chamber there.

"I see it, a still burning furnace," Blake commented. "Seems your analogy, Kaelyn, could be truth."

As well as a furnace burning without sign of being tended or refuelled, or even of having anything for it to be refuelled with, there were skeletons lining raised sections of floor to either side of the room. A strange glittering filled the air as if it was alive with fireflies. Blake closed his eyes for a moment and then shook his head, he could feel something wrong but Gann with his link to spirits or Kaelyn with her link to the god of martyrs were better suited to this.

"Truth indeed," Gann said, nodding at the skeletons, "if how those burnt skeletons look is how they died."

"I take it this is where many died and where the turmoil is," commented Blake. "Let us be cautious, I grew up in a Mere village so I know how an innocent looking patch of grass can conceal inescapable liquid mud to drown in…and with that sparkling this does not look that innocent."

"Ilmater preserve us if we are martyred to this cause," Kaelyn replied.

Neeshka snorted slightly at that as she would have preferred being preserved without the part about martyrdom. A priest of the Red Knight, with his domain of strategy to grant them a better plan, or of Tyr, with his domain of justice for those killed here, seemed like they would have been far more useful right now. Or failing that one of Tymorra, who she worshipped, to give good fortune in general or blessings of skill and victory. Gann also looked not completely grateful though his tendency towards being charming to ladies kept that reaction less obvious.

Blake slowly led the way down the short flight of stairs and onto the floor of the furnace room. This was damned peculiar, what purpose was there in having a furnace here? There seemed no Gnomish or Dwarven contraptions attached to it by pipes and no baker's ovens being heated by flue gases passing through pipes from it. What was this furnace feeding? Moreover what fuel was it feeding on?

"The turmoil I sense is becoming more focussed," Gann warned, "becoming more intense."

"I feel it too," confirmed Kaelyn, "like a whirlpool forming from rough waters."

The sparking in the air flared for a moment and Blake barely had time to nod to Gann and Kaelyn before charred skeletons summoned themselves into existence all around them. Without pause they hurled themselves at the party, burnt finger bones raking out to grab at shields and armour and whatever else they could reach. Although these skeletons had appeared out of thin air they proved to be more substantial than this as their combined weight pressed in.

"Hands!" Neeshka snapped as skeletal fingers made contact with her leather breastplate. She drove her forearm and the blade fixed to the bracer into that skeleton's face and it fell back, the front of its skull scarred by a great gash.

Gann shifted the grip on his spear to use it like a quarterstaff and managed to also send a skeleton back as he slammed the portion of spearshaft between his hands into its jaw. Other skeletons though were grabbing at his spear and he had to match their combined strength against his as he wrestled his spear back and forth. More skeletons were grasping at Blake and Kaelyn's shields, bone fingers closing around the edges of the shields and trying to drag them down or aside.

Lacking the room to swing his sword Blake instead raised his hand above his head and drove the pommel of his sword down and into one skull, easily smashing a hole into it. To Blake's annoyance with no brain to be pulped or spill out of that two-inch wide gap this did not seem to affect the skeleton as much as it would a living foe. It staggered but returned to trying to grab at his shield. Blake's mind ran through what spells he still had prepared and he began to wonder if they were going to be dragged down by sheer numbers.

"Not enough room to fight properly," Blake cursed, his ability to hit things with the pommel of his sword constrained by having to keep the blade away from himself and the others.

"I noticed," replied Gann, twisting his spear in the grasp of the skeletons holding onto it and ducking his head back to avoid one skeleton's attempt to claw at his eyes. "Can you get us some room?"

"These are already burnt," Blake pointed out, managing to smash another skull with his sword pommel, "so no Firebrand, and most other spells I have prepared would hurt us as well."

"Allow me," said Kaelyn calmly.

Blake was not sure what she was thinking but nodded. "Push!" he grunted.

Gann braced himself and shoved back with his spear against the skeleton, gaining a few precious inches of room as their toe bones slid over the stone floor rather than gripping like Gann's boot soles. Blake also shoved, his shoulder and side pressing against the rear of his shield and driving it against the breastbones of the skeletons that had been trying to pull it towards them. Neeshka had been avoiding being grabbed but, trusting her harbour boy, she pushed her small shield into the chest of one skeleton, the spike on its face crunching slightly into bone as she staggered the skeleton back a little and into a few others.

Given that tiny amount of extra room Kaelyn stepped back and into the gap the others had opened. She chanted a divine incantation and Blake felt some of his weariness and all of his scratches and abrasions swept away by a flow of healing energy. As this healing energy rippled out from Kaelyn it struck the skeletons and had quite the opposite effect. The energy of life coursed into them and drove out the energies of death that were animating these undead and, in the absence of ligaments and cartilage, keeping the skeletons together. There was a patter on the stone floor as the skeletons disintegrated into their individual bones and these fell.

"That spirit," said Blake, distracted for a moment as he noticed, "his robes are those of Myrkul but ornate."

"Fight now," Neeshka chided him, as the skeletons from outside the affected area began to advance, "ponder later!"

Blake nodded and swept his sword round in an arc at mid-chest level. His footing was not that good as although it was easy to avoid stepping on the larger bones there were a lot of finger and toe bones scattered across the floor. Fortunately the charred bone was weak so the small bones under his boots crunched to powder and the ribcages and arm bones of the skeletons he struck with his sword sweep shattered. Some of these skeletons managed to keep moving though as Blake had not severed the spine and they had no vital organs within their now smashed chests.

Seeing this Kaelyn decided to demonstrate the correct method and, having recovered from casting the healing prayer, brought her mace down in a diagonal blow. Its head met the skeleton's skull just above one eyesocket and continued on down, shattering across the nose and then upper jaw. Teeth and fragments of skull along with the lower jaw, now having that much less to be attached to, sprayed downwards. Kaelyn wrenched her mace backwards and then swung it in a horizontal arc into the side of another skeleton's skull.

Gann could see how weak the charred bone was but still did not want to risk his spearhead becoming wedged in that bone. So he continued to use his spear like a quarterstaff, bringing either end around in short horizontal arcs into skeleton faces or sometimes angling his spear across his body and using the lower end of it to smash a knee or shin. The charred bones were weak enough and the stone floor hard enough that sometimes the skeleton would break more bones in the fall but even they continued to try to claw at people from the floor. For a few moments at least until Gann kicked or stamped their skull or smashed his spear butt down on it.

A frown came to Neeshka's face as she saw Blake swing his sword back round at neck level and finish the skeletons he had only wounded. That was okay for her big clumsy harbour boy with his big clumsy sword but, as she had pointed out to him, she was kind of delicate and so was her rapier. Even Gann had realised there was nothing on these things to stab. Calmly Neeshka placed her rapier back into its scabbard, and then she leapt forward with panther-like grace. Her left arm swung and with that momentum and that of her pounce she drove the edge of her small shield into a skeleton skull to shatter it. Neeshka twisted to avoid the grasp of another skeleton and used that twist to bring her right arm and its forearm blade across that skeleton's neck bones and send its skull to the floor where it bounced a few times before breaking.

Neeshka jumped back away from another skeleton. This tried to follow but was only able to follow her as far as where its face met the spear butt that Gann had stabbed out. A quick smile and nod of thanks from Neeshka and she darted out again to claim another victim. Blake and Kaelyn continued their work as well with their contrasting styles. Kaelyn smashing individual skulls with quick short controlled blows that let her swiftly move on to the next and Blake sweeping his sword round in great arcs that took longer to recover from but which passed through more than one skeleton at a time.

The skeletons kept on advancing, nothing in their undead minds but the desire to swarm over Blake and the others and drag them down and kill them. Unfortunately for them their reach was literally arm's length and before they could get close enough to grab and claw they had to survive the attacks of the living. Gann's spear, even swung like a quarterstaff, and Blake's sword had considerably more than arms length as a range and though Kaelyn's mace was not that long it still added a foot or so to her reach. Neeshka was the only one that had to come within the skeletons' reach but she was so agile and quick they were incapable of taking advantage of this.

Like a puddle drying in the sun the mass of skeletons slowly shrunk, their feet covering less and less of the chamber as those in the middle were smashed and those around them pressed in to be smashed in their turn. Finally it was over and Blake took a chance and scabbarded his sword so he could brace both hands on his knees while he took deep breaths. Gann leaned on his spear like a lazy sentry, enough sweat on his face to look like the grey was from water-spirit ancestry rather than hag.

"Come on harbour boy," grinned Neeshka, her own face flushed with exertion and her eyes sparking. "I know you have more stamina than that."

"Please," Gann said, raising his head slightly, "no details of how you know that."

Blake gave Gann a weary look and then gave Neeshka a longer one. Maybe it was Gann's comment but he couldn't help remembering other times Neeshka's face had been that flushed, her eyes that sparking, and what they had been doing to put that happy glow on her face and other parts of her. With an effort Blake suppressed the memories and the ancient instincts that suggested what the best way to celebrate winning a fight was. To Blake's annoyance Kaelyn did not seem out of breath and was studying the priest-spirit rather than dent her aloofness by paying attention to the banter. Blake moved to join her and join her in looking at the spirit who was looking back at them. It seemed unlikely a staring contest with a ghost could be won as it no longer had physical eyeballs to dry out but even a ghost can feel the need to fill a silence with speech.

"Begone!" the priest-spirit demanded. "There is little enough comfort to be had in this crowded furnace. I won't let you throw yourselves into the warmth and crowd it further."

"What?" Blake asked incredulously, his opinion of that idea very apparent in his tone. "I have no intention of throwing myself into the furnace."

"Yeah, I'm as much warmth as he can handle," winked Neeshka salaciously.

"Why else, if not to enter it, would you come to Myrkul's Furnace?" the priest-spirit replied . "Go now and find some other warmth!"

Blake hesitated a moment. The reply that had sprung to his mind was that he'd already found 'some other warmth' and that if they could find a comfortable clean safe room then as well as being as much warmth as he could handle that would be the 'warmth' he would rather enter. Neeshka saw the look on Blake's face and giggled, both in agreement and at him being too embarrassed to actually say it. Blake smiled at her, acknowledging and accepting her amusement at him.

"We seek the former High Priest…" Kaelyn said, her mind on the task at hand.

There was a slight shimmer as Kaelyn spoke and Blake frowned as he peered at the form of a child that had appeared beside that of the priest. Neeshka noticed this and looked where Blake was looking, and then back at him with her own slight frown.

"What is it, Priest?" said the child-spirit, his voice somehow more ghostly than the priest's. "A supplicant come to join the Many?"

"As he may know how to open…." Kaelyn continued.

"Quiet…" muttered Blake, gesturing to Kaelyn for silence and adding a moment later, "please."

Kaelyn turned to Blake, her mouth opening to protest at the abrupt command. Then her protest subsided as she saw Blake was looking at something and his head was tilted as if trying to hear something.

"Nothing to concern yourself with, Child," the priest replied to the other spirit. "Recede back into the warmth of the furnace."

"But do you sense it?" the child-spirit asked, a hunger entering his voice. "Unlike others that have come, this one is compatible with the Many…"

"What are you talking about?" demanded Blake. "Compatible how?"

"Compatible?" Neeshka asked. "Who said that?"

"Why, I think it sees me," said the child-spirit in satisfaction, "and it hears me speaking to you. It is compatible."

"Do not even think that!" the priest-spirit protested. "It cannot see you or hear you…"

"Yes, I can."

"And if it could," continued the priest-spirit, a hint of desperation in his voice as he talked over Blake, "such a one could dominate the Many and silence my voice! I would no longer be One."

"Do not fool yourself Priest," the child-spirit said contemptuously. "You are One only because I granted it to save you from the Many's wrath. Do you wish me to wake the Brute?"

"How dare you?" exclaimed the priest-spirit. "Do you forget, Child, that before Cyric's usurpers cast me alive into the Furnace, it was I who fed you, nurtured you, and educated you?"

"Child?" Kaelyn murmured. Blake nodded slightly to her as he continued to listen.

"I have forgotten much, Priest," said the child-spirit in disdain. "But that is one detail I can never forget, as you have recited it incessantly since you joined the Many and I regretfully made you One."

"You should be grateful that I kept the secret of your existence safe throughout the hours of torture I endured for being the High Priest of a slain god!" the priest-spirit pointed out, reminding the child-spirit of past deeds. "For if I had let that detail slip, you and the rest of the Many would have been exorcised from the comfort of the Furnace and sent to the City of Judgement to become mortar for the Wall of the Faithless!"

"Enough," Blake interrupted, losing patience with the bickering. "I am curious about what you two mean by the One and the Many, but my concern is finding the key to the lower level. Which as you have identified yourself as High Priest we know that you possess."

"Did you hear what it said?" asked the child-spirit, like many children would ignoring most of what Blake said in favour of hearing only what mattered to it. "It can see and hear me! The Brute must witness this! I will go fetch him."

The child-spirit shimmered again and vanished before either Blake or the priest-spirit could react. Blake sighed as the priest-spirit turned away, concerned with what the child-spirit was doing rather than answering him.

"'You two'?" Gann asked, taking advantage of the silence. "This priest did seem to be speaking to someone, do you also see them?"

"I too see only the spirit of the Myrkullite priest, but I sense the presence of others," reported Kaelyn.

"There was the spirit of a boy there, he seems to have vanished to fetch someone or something called the Brute…"

There was another shimmer and an Orc appeared, his malevolence apparent even as a ghost. Blake wondered though if he was actually any more evil than the child-spirit had been despite the innocent appearance of the latter. To be haunting this furnace suggested some crime from the child and his attitude towards the priest did not suggest a kind nature if even part of what the priest had said was true.

"Someone call me?" the Orc-spirit grumbled. "What's this, a living flesh-receptacle?"

"No, no Brute! Go back into the Furnace," protested the priest-spirit. "Yours is the last face I want to see, you mindless murderer!"

"You be silent, Priest!" the Orc-spirit threatened. "Or I'll leave here; find more of your still-living family to slay."

"Leave? You can never leave!" replied the priest-spirit, "and even if you could my family is already dead thanks to you, monster! Do you forget when I hunted you down for slaying my wife, my son? And then when I had you tossed, swearing, into the Furnace?"

"You…" the Orc-spirit growled, his voice low in his throat, "you be silent!"

"And I spat on you while your flesh blistered," continued the priest-spirit, taunting the Orc-spirit with the memory of his death, "and watched the spittle boil and evaporate on your forehead as your final words went unheard over the roar of the inferno!"

"Sheesh," Neeshka exclaimed with a hiss. "I don't know who he is talking too but that is some taunt."

"Looks like the spirit of an Orc," Blake told his sweetheart and the others, "and the Orc had threatened to try to find some of the Priest's descendants… which is unlikely after the centuries that have passed… so it was not unprovoked."

"Huh? Did the flesh-receptacle speak of me?" the Orc-spirit asked in surprise. "How can it see me?"

"Yes, you low-born son of a corpulent pig!" confirmed the priest-spirit. "The Child called for you to witness this. Some other one can see you and hear you as I once did when I lived."

"Well, you impotent worshipper of a dead god," the Orc-spirit replied, "let us grab it and take it into the Furnace so that it might join the Many."

"Try grabbing me," Blake said harshly, "and your previous death will seem merciful by comparison."

"And I am one and I forbid it!" proclaimed the priest-sprit. "Eventually this one will tire of being ignored and will move on."

"Eventually?" Blake said, mostly to himself but in a tone that made it clear he was already tired of being ignored.

"Then let me speak to it myself," demanded the Orc-spirit. "I want out of this blasted Furnace, and this one may have the power to break us free!"

"I will not let you speak to it," the priest-spirit snapped, "now go back and I will deal with this."

"Feh! I was roused for nothing," replied the Orc-spirit, accepting rather that protesting the priest-spirit's edict. "It will take me some time to find a comfortable place among the crammed furnace. Do the Many a favour and be silent until then!"

"Oh yes, I will keep silent. The living have little patience for being ignored…"

"Got that right," Neeshka muttered.

"If I do not speak to them any more they will leave," concluded the priest-spirit.

"If you answer our questions then that would also allow us to leave," Kaelyn said reasonably. "The Chief Scribe said the key to the lower level was in your possession."

The priest-spirit looked at Kaelyn but firmly pressed his immaterial lips together rather than reply. The silence stretched as he stared at her, trying to look imperious and immovable and matching ghost patience against celestial. "Please, you must answer," Kaelyn requested, a hint of pleading in her calm voice. "I have come too far and done too much."

Another several moments passed with the two of them looking at each other before a look of fresh determination made its way onto Kaelyn's face. "Very well, we shall see whose patience breaks first."

"Er…" Neeshka said, looking worried and giving Blake a significant look.

Blake nodded to Neeshka. "Kaelyn, a moment please."

Kaelyn gave him a slight frown but, with visible reluctance, broke off her staring match and moved a short distance away to join Blake. "What is it?"

"Do you agree this upper level is now safe?" Blake replied with his own question.

"I do," admitted Kaelyn, "but…"

"Then that is what you can tell your siblings without lying. If you are going to spend days, or tendays, or longer staring down a centuries old spirit then, first, let us take you back to them. We can return you once they have been reassured."

"I am reluctant to depart when this spirit has answers ungiven," Kaelyn replied calmly but firmly.

"Understandable," said Blake, turning away slightly. "Gann, is there any way to 'encourage' this Priest?"

"My knowledge is of the spirits of the land, not the spirits of the dead," Gann pointed out. "I think our Dove here would answer that question better than I."

"And I think I cannot hurt him more than he already is. Even if I was willing to do such deeds he has suffered mental anguish for centuries, far more pain than I could inflict on his ghostly form. Patience would be our only weapon…"

"Then…" Blake replied to Kaelyn as inspiration struck, "let us deal with matters that could lead to impatience first."

Kaelyn thought for a moment and then to Blake's relief she nodded. "Very well, it will be good to see Efrem and Susah again and the memory of them and their devotion will aid me in my vigil here."

"Finally, we can go!" exclaimed Neeshka. This earned another slight frown from Kaelyn before her expression dissolved back into its customary serene blankness.

The way out of the Death-God's vault and back down the hill was still clear and they soon had the shock of being once more surrounded by colours and the sound of life. Even at this time of night where the colours were the muted tones of moonlight and the market was quiet it was a great contrast with the dark and the deathly stillness of the Shadow Plane. Neeshka donned her cloak again, they moved down and out of the side street, and Kaelyn perked up a little, almost looking happy.

"There are my siblings, Susah and Efrem."

"Kaelyn!" Efrem smiled, showing more of his pleasure than she did. "Little sister, it is good to see you on the Prime again."

"You need to stop flying from us," chided Susah, smiling at her sister. "Was your search successful?"

"I have made progress, yes…" Kaelyn replied.

Blake glanced away from the half-celestial reunion and back at Neeshka who was holding back. After a moment of thought Blake retreated to join her, as she was who he cared about rather than the conversation of the three siblings.

"What has happened in my absence?" Kaelyn continued by asking. "The city feels different, more turbulent."

"A ghostly beast is at the gates," reported Efrem, "a bear-god, awakened from his slumber and bellowing worse than Susah when she can't get her way."

"And worse than Efrem when I best him in duels with one hand tied behind my back and hopping on one foot."

"It is good to see you, my siblings," Kaelyn said fondly at the banter. "I have missed you…"

"How are you feeling?" Blake quietly asked Neeshka, ignoring the banter as Kaelyn had ignored theirs before. "With all three of them present I mean."

Neeshka winced slightly before she could stop herself. "I can handle it, don't worry harbour-boy."

"Of course I'll worry, but… I'll respect your choice."

Neeshka gave Blake a smile of gratitude. Coming from most people this would have been quite strong but compared with her normal brilliance this made Blake more concerned over how weak it was. He paused and then gave Neeshka a quick smile back before moving away without expressing any more concern.

"But how did you come to be here?" Kaelyn was asking. "I had thought that…"

"We would not let our eldest sister, leader of our humble Menagerie, go into exile alone!" protested Efrem heartily. "Who would feed us? Change our cages? Sing to us? Nay, to abandon you… I would sooner let the antlers fall from my helm like leaves!"

"Although the removal of your antlers would make it easier on door frames, my brother," Susah bantered. "Many still bear wounds from your entrance."

"I am pleased to see that the gravity of events has not diminished your charming rivalry," said Kaelyn deadpan, giving even her siblings a moment's pause where they wondered if she was being sarcastic before they relaxed.

"I have brought your sister Kaelyn to you, as promised," Blake said, rejoining them and taking advantage of that momentary pause.

"Indeed," replied Efrem. "We will also keep our promise and help you."

"Promise?" Kaelyn asked, having known of Blake's promise but not that it was in return for another. "What promise?"

"In exchange for finding you," supplied Susah, "we promised to help battle the spirit army beyond the gates."

"As I mentioned to him, back in the Death God's Vault," Kaelyn said with some annoyance, and a little disappointment, that Blake had not been motivated entirely by helpfulness, "it is not my intention to endanger you, my siblings."

"Ah, sister. We can take care of ourselves," Efrem pointed out, a little affronted at his big sister still trying to protect him. Even now that she was only older rather than bigger. "We are not unaccustomed to battle, or to great odds against us. Remember the Menagerie!"

Kaelyn ignored her brother and turned to Blake, her expression mulish and her lips tight with determination. "Please release them from their promise to aid you. I will help you, and that is enough."

"Is it?" asked Blake before continuing. "The bear-god is powerful; I need all the help I can get. And do you honestly think that if you fight by my side that your siblings would not insist on fighting him also? Promise or no promise they would wish to keep you as safe as you wish to keep them."

"So be it," Kaelyn replied, some annoyance in her dispassionate tones. Even if Blake was right that it was all or none of them that did not make her happy that he had not released the promise or declined her offer and allowed it to be none. "Though you had best ensure that my brother and sister are not harmed."

"And you had 'best ensure' that was not a threat against my harbour-boy," Neeshka called from the several feet away she was standing.

Efrem glanced back and forth as he felt the tension between Kaelyn and Blake and between Neeshka and Kaelyn, "He is right, we would not have let you face the bear-god without us Kaelyn, and we should keep the promises we have made."

"I can feel the army outside the gate," frowned Kaelyn, "they are here in great numbers."

"Gann," Blake asked, "would there be an advantage in waiting until morning?"

"I see none, these are not undead to be weakened by the sun and the moonlight is bright enough to see by," mused Gann. "In any case bear-gods are not known for their patience and that it has held this long is something of a surprise. As reluctant as he would be to harm Rashemi we should not rely on this surprise continuing."

"Very well," Blake replied, "and also best to fight now rather than risk being caught asleep."

"Let us pause a moment and consider our next course of action," Gann cautioned. "I do not think we should simply rush into this blindly, however short it is before this time runs out."

"If we can separate him from his army then Neeshka and I might be able to wear him down," suggested Blake. "His followers might expose themselves to attack trying to save him or be disheartened if he is defeated again."

"An interesting idea, but somewhat reversed," Gann smiled, looking a little smug and superior. "That would be logical were he a creature of flesh, a lord or a king to be isolated and killed to break his army's morale, but here that would allow him to win the day. Especially since his followers would not be as eager to reach him as you assume."

"Explain, please," frowned Blake.

"The bear-god came here with an army. Why?" Gann asked rhetorically. "That army sustains his rage and his strength, they are like a drumbeat for his heart and as long as they survive to sustain him you will not be able to 'wear him down'. They will know this as well as we… as well as I do and know that exposing themselves to attack is not how to save him."

"Ah," hissed Blake. "I may have been doubly misled by an experience with a necromancer. As well as what you pointed out about these not being undead to be weakened by the sun defeating that necromancer and forcing him to flee deprived his army of his strength. Which won the battle as his entire army burst into flame in the early morning light."

"Indeed, well here it is… as I said… the reverse," Gann said, raising one eyebrow. "Deprive Okku of his army's strength and you may be able to harm him. I will do what I can to let you know when he has been weakened enough but until then I would advise that we do our best to keep him at arm's… paw's length. Slow him down while we defeat his legions and then move on him, do it the opposite way as you were intending and he will win the day."

"Very well," replied Blake, glancing around to check the others had heard, "we shall trust your judgement and I thank you for the insight and the warning."

"I am touched," Gann said, not managing to sound as sarcastic as he intended, "but let us see if our weapons can match our intentions."

The gates of the town were like a canal lock and surly looking guards shut the inner pair behind Blake and the others before the outer pair opened, both pairs of gates creaking enough to show Rashemi did not believe in greasing hinges. In the distance, just outside effective bow range, the spirit army waited. Blake wondered about that as they started down the road. Surely no Rashemi would commit the blasphemy of drawing a bow on the spirits, but then fear could overcome someone and they might have been able to loose one arrow before their fellows could throw them off the wall for this act.

Blake checked the straps holding his shield on his arm and the chinstrap holding his helmet on his head were still firmly tight, but left his sword in its scabbard as though he was almost certain this would end in battle that was not the same as entirely certain. The chance was tiny that he could avoid having to kill this god-of-bears, or at least fight him into flight or surrender, but that chance was one he wanted to take and approaching sword in hand would hamper this however much eloquence Milil blessed him with.

The army was larger than Blake had hoped. Ghostly animals and ghostly people surrounded the large and colourful and powerful form of Okku. Seeing this Blake was not sure which absence he felt more. He'd have felt better with long trusted companions like Khelgar at his back but hundreds of well-trained well-equipped Greycloaks would also have been very welcome. Seeing their approach Okku fixed his yellow eyes on Blake and glared, the moonlight reflecting off him making his colours seem more intense than the dimness of the barrow had, and looking as annoyed by this entire business as Blake felt. Blue-grey eyes met yellow as they locked gazes and matched wills silently for a moment before Okku spoke.

"So, you are brave, after all," Okku rumbled deep in his massive chest. "Wood and stone would not have kept us from you, but it is good that the innocent are spared my army's rage. This can be ended quickly if you like. Present your neck. It will fit snugly between my teeth and we can all return to our dreams."

"Why should I die for the plots of Red Wizards?" Blake asked, as politely as he could. "It was not my choice to be kidnapped and placed in your barrow and I attempted to leave it as swiftly and in as much peace as I could. To take nothing…" Blake ignored Neeshka mutter of 'spoilsport'. "And to only defend myself."

"It is not what you did, but what you are, little one," Okku replied. "Can't you smell it? The foulness of you drives all these spirits mad."

Neeshka had stowed her cloak while they were talking, now she leaned in and whispered quietly into Blake's ear. "Don't worry harbour-boy," she murmured, "I think you smell nice. Swampy but nice."

"You do not know what you are, not yet," Okku continued, "If you did you might ask me to kill you. Better that you never learn. Now we have spoken enough! I will live in a world that is free of you. Or I will die and dream no more."

"This brings me no joy, god-of-bears," Blake said simply, drawing his sword as Okku confirmed that combat was the only way to settle this, "but I'd rather live with my regret over killing you than pass to an afterlife and have to regret leaving Neeshka alone in a foreign land."

"And I shall treat your corpse with respect, little one, when I drag it from the field," Okku replied with the confidence being a bear-god with an army brought. "You have my oath. Tonight you will lie in the cavern of runes, and there you will stay."

Okku sprang and bounded forward at Blake who set his feet to meet the charge. An expression of concern passed across Gann's face as it looked like Blake had forgotten the instructions and intended to fight an unweakened Okku. At the last moment though Blake sidestepped, Okku's momentum carrying him past, and hurried a few steps out and back the way Okku had come. A muttered incantation and a Greater Missile Storm peppered that flank of Okku's army with magical missiles to injure and distract them.

His claws skittered on the stone of the road surface as Okku turned and tried to reverse his charge. Then he howled as Neeshka darted forward and sliced the tip of her rapier across one thigh. Distracted by that pain Okku half-turned again to roar at the Tiefling who had retreated and was now waving her sword in short feints at him. Neeshka glanced past Okku and met Gann's eyes for a moment, he nodded and then his spear flicked out and into Okku. Rage began to fill Okku's eyes as he whirled and his mighty claws met nothing but air rather than leather armour and Hagspawn flesh.

Okku's army had tried to follow his charge but those on one flank had been staggered by Blake's Greater Missile Storm and now Susah was loosing arrows at them, some of which struck those spirits and some of which Okku in his whirling got in the way of. Her siblings were also attacking, circling around clear of where Neeshka and Gann were trying to keep Okku isolated to attack the flank opposite to Blake. He saw them moving and saw that even with the extra speed their wings gave them, despite Efrem's size and Kaelyn's armour, this was going to be too close so Blake chanted and 'wasted' a Fireball on the empty road between Okku and his army. Though the spirits had no bodies to be burnt the explosion still made them instinctively recoil, still broke the momentum of their charge, and gave the few extra seconds for the two Half-Celestials to meet them.

Efrem's Greatsword flashed ahead of him and through spirits as he got into reach of the foe, his strength and skill proving sufficient to drive his blade through the spirits in its path. Kaelyn was subtler, letting Efrem fight those closest to them she continued on a few extra steps to meet those in the centre of the disorganised mob trying to help their god. More spirits began to whirl and lose their form as Kaelyn smashed them apart with her mace.

Scant yards separated the spirit army and Okku but that seemed enough. If Okku had a moment to calm himself and think then he could ignore Neeshka and Gann and their painful but insignificant attacks and charge back, force Kaelyn to either get out of his way or find herself beneath his teeth and claws. But his thoughts were submerged in the rage of a bear-god to rend and tear what dared to hurt him, a rage that had built as he tried to control it during the long journey and the hours outside Mulsantir lest he unleash it and innocents suffer. Another stab from Neeshka, another wound that with the strength from his army was barely inflicted before it healed, and more pain to stoke his anger still higher.

Blake spared Okku a glance as the god of bears roared again and even more vehemently, and then returned to his own work. He trusted Neeshka to keep Okku busy and Gann had earned some measure of trust. Blake dabbed his sword left in an obvious move the spirit-warrior ahead of him easily saw and countered, and then Blake whipped his blade back to the right and up, pivoting at the waist to put power into the backhand blow. The magic enhanced edge of Blake's sword sheered though spirit-leather-armour and spirit-flesh and his foe had just long enough for an look of reproachful surprise at being fooled before he swirled away.

This was working quite well Blake felt but a frown creased his brow beneath his helmet as he noticed some movement in the spirit army. A few of the ghostly people were moving back. With the carnage inflicted on their fellows it would be easy to think this cowardice but they seemed too organised. Blake met the spring of a spirit-animal with his kite-shaped shield, deflecting the force of the spring to one side and stabbing down as the spirit-animal tried to roll to its feet, and then glanced back at the group. As he feared they were getting into a rather ragged formation, the Greycloaks or even the West Harbour Militia would have called it sloppy but it would let them be co-ordinated enough to perhaps break through to Okku.

Unfortunately for the spirits being close enough together to form a shield wall and sweep Kaelyn aside also meant they were close enough together to be vulnerable to magic. Blake let them start to move and then concentrated and chanted, a great ball of sonic energy formed between his hands and then arced up like a catapult stone and down into the small group. The Cacophonic Burst discharged and despite their immaterial form the spirits shuddered with the effects. Half the group shook apart and lost their forms and swirled away. Blake could not take advantage of this though as he grunted in pain as spirit-teeth closed on the bracer on his sword-arm.

The spirit-animal that had taken advantage of Blake being distracted by his spellcasting growled through its clenched teeth and whipped itself around, trying to dislocate Blake's elbow or work its teeth through the, to it, annoyingly sturdy metal. Blake clenched his shield-arm hand into a fist with the joint of his thumb sticking out into a point and started trying to anticipate the spirit-animal's motions. One chance was all he needed to drive the edge of the thin plate of metal protecting the outside of his thumb into that spirit-animal's eye.

That chance was not needed though as suddenly Kaelyn was there and bringing her mace around and into the spirit-animal's side. For a moment it swung on Blake's arm as its rear paws were driven up off the ground by the force of the blow, but then its jaws released and it thudded onto its side on the ground. Its rear legs twitched feebly a few times, as if its spine was broken, before Blake brought his sword down onto its head and through it into the soil.

"Thanks," Blake said, but then a fresh howl interrupted him.

Okku was almost glowing with his rage but as Neeshka drew the tip of her rapier down across his ribs that wound stayed visible and took a few seconds to even start healing closed. Gann noticed this and noticed Blake had glanced back in their direction and nodded. "He is vulnerable now," Gann called, confirming what the others had suspected.

"Go," Kaelyn ordered Blake. "Susah, the bear."

Susah immediately switched her aim to trying to hit Okku rather than trying to aim past him, her practised fingers stringing arrow after arrow as her arms and chest repeatedly flexed and drew her bow with remarkable speed. Blake hesitated a moment before charging in to join the fight while Kaelyn and Efrem held off the remains of the 'army'. He'd become accustomed to command and Kaelyn had neither the authority nor had earned enough trust to compel instant obedience in Blake. It was only a moment though as the 'suggestion' made sense.

With Susah's skill the bear-god's hide began to resemble a colourful hedgehog as now Okku was vulnerable her arrows were piercing him enough to stay in his spirit-flesh rather than fall off immediately. Some arrows were working loose as Okku healed and the healing pushed the arrows out. Other arrows were deep seated enough that Okku was healing around them, there was too much healed together spirit-flesh around the shaft for the healing around the arrowhead to be able to push the barbs back through and out.

Seeing Blake approach, seeing the man whose death he had vowed, drove Okku's rage even higher than the feel of arrows in his body and spear and rapier wounds across him. Teeth as long as Blake's hand glistened in the moonlight as Okku roared and counter-charged. Neeshka's rapier sliced out again and opened a fresh wound on Okku's thigh but the bear-god was not to be diverted this time.

Blake stabbed his sword forward, aiming to plunge it into Okku's open mouth, but at the last instant Okku turned his head and clamped his teeth down, trapping Blake's sword. For a moment Blake's arm was driven back and he found himself tipping off balance, but then the magic imbued on his sword discharged and into Okku's teeth and mouth. Pain and magic shot up through Okku's jaws which relaxed just enough to free Blake's sword to move, but as Okku had turned his head and as Blake was now off balance this cut its way out of Okku's cheek rather than stabbing straight on.

Okku roared and shook his head, as if he was trying to shake away the pain as he would water from a swim and hampering his own healing as the skin either side of the wound flapped apart rather than being close enough to knit back together. Blake staggered off to one side and back, fresh arrows from Susah piercing Okku's hide as Gann darted in to open another stab wound in Okku's flank with his spear. Okku ignored those fresh wounds to fix his yellow eyes on Blake as Blake regained his balance. A glow surrounded Okku and the spirits still fighting Kaelyn and Efrem faded as they released their power to their god. Arrows pattered down onto the grass as even the deeply embedded ones were expelled from his body and all Okku's wounds healed. Now lacking other foes Efrem and Kaelyn hurried back to help surround the rejuvenated bear-god as he circled and snarled at the pitiful two-legged creatures that had dared wound him.

Neeshka bounded forward, rapier striking out with snakelike speed, but Okku turned and swung a mighty paw at her. She twisted and avoided the blow though this forced her to abandon her own attack. Blake took advantage of Okku's distraction to chant a quick incantation, falling silent a moment before Okku whirled to face him. He seemed to Okku to have abandoned that spell as no magic had struck the bear-god and Blake was now backing away from Okku's charge silently rather than continuing to chant or gesture.

Then flame erupted from the grass as Okku's paw came down on the slightly glowing spot hidden amongst it. Blake had fallen silent because he had completed the incantation to create a Delayed Action Fireball. Almost every time he used this spell he would simply cast this straight at the enemy so it would detonate immediately but this time he had taken advantage of the ability to cast it at the ground to detonate when stepped on. Okku shook his massive head, barely hurt as spirit-flesh did not burn like normal flesh but like the spirits of his army the fireball did cause him to instinctively recoil in surprise.

Blake swung his sword, putting waist and shoulder and some weight into the blow. The edge of the blade thunked into Okku's brow and cheek, but his spirit-body was sufficiently resistant and his eye sufficiently deep-set beneath his brow that this edge did not sink in far enough to cut the eye itself open. Okku wrenched his head away one way as Blake pulled his sword back and as their combined efforts freed the sword the deep wound above and below the angry yellow eye of the bear-god began to shimmer and slowly close. Backing away Blake cursed slightly to himself that ghostly bears did not bleed. Even with not reaching the eye itself he'd have at least hampered its sight with the blood that would have been flowing down into it.

Okku prowled forward a couple of steps to follow Blake but then his back arched as fresh pain shot across it. Efrem had seen a chance and had sprung forward, propelled by thighs and wings, and brought his Greatsword in a right to left downward diagonal blow, its blade slicing into the hump Okku had across his shoulders. For a moment Efrem's sword resisted being withdrawn as it had sliced deep into Okku's tough spirit-flesh, and so Efrem was that moment slow in his retreat. Okku pivoted, turning in his own body length and claws the size of large daggers sliced across Efrem's armour.

Efrem staggered back and down onto one knee, the gouges in his armour almost deep enough to also be gouges in him, but his siblings were alert to the danger. Susah began loosing arrows even faster, at a rate even she could not keep up for long, and Okku flinched from this assault just long enough for Kaelyn to step forward. Her face was still remarkably serene showing neither battle-lust nor exertion nor the rage that burned back at her from Okku as he advanced to try to spring on Efrem before he could rise. A flicker of her eyes to assess Okku's posture and Kaelyn calmly smashed her mace into the side of the bear-god's nose, aiming for the same side as where the wound Blake had inflicted was still healing.

Okku howled and reared back, one front paw coming up slightly towards his nose. Efrem's boots scrabbled as he regained his feet and as Kaelyn moved back, her eyes meeting and holding Okku's. There was a thud as the bear-god's front paws came back down to ground and then another thud as Gann's spear drove into him and up under what would have been his ribcage. Rather than quickly thrusting and withdrawing Gann had charged, using all the momentum he could build and the power of his arms and legs and back to strike this blow. Shifting his grip Gann twisted at the shaft, trying to twist the spearhead within Okku.

A roar of agony escaped Okku as he writhed and ripped the spear shaft from Gann's grasp. Gann staggered a little and then oofed out a little breath as the shaft came back and struck him across the chest. Slightly desperately Gann grabbed at the shaft and managed to get back hold of it, this would let his weight and the drag of his boots on the ground move the spear around in the wound as Okku moved. It would also have the advantage for Gann that as long as he holding onto the spear he was not in a place where Okku could claw or bite him, a similar situation to the tale of a Halfling that had tried riding a tiger.

Okku turned, slightly slowed as his turn took Gann with it. The weight of the Hagspawn was insignificant compared with his strength. The pain was more significant but he reminded himself he was a god of bears, pain was not as important as rage and determination. The half-celestials ahead of him were on their feet, the male and the female both, and were advancing. The Tiefling was to one side and the man he needed to slay before he could rest and brood on revenge was to the other. Okku knew another attack was coming, aside from the continued annoyance of those arrows from the third half-celestial, and he gathered his strength to meet it.

Blake looked past Okku and a wordless message passed between him and Neeshka as their eyes met. Simultaneously they moved, Neeshka slowing herself to match her harbour-boy's speed so if Okku didn't move they'd reach him at the same time. Of course it was not likely Okku would stay still and so it proved; he whirled with a speed that almost cost Gann his grip on his spear again. Gann's boots drew muddy scrapes across the grass and then he nearly fell flat on his face as Okku sprang towards Blake and the force of this spring pulled the spear back out of the wound as it pulled Gann forward. Blake's boot heel dug into the ground as he arrested his charge and, ignoring the twinge in his knee putting that much strain on it had caused, started to run back at an angle in the opposite direction.

Okku turned to chase Blake, his prey was still trying to get to a full run while Okku was already closer to this and felt confident he could move faster than a heavily armoured man even if Blake did get into his stride. Unfortunately for Okku although he was right in this he would have been wrong if he had thought he could move faster than a more lightly armoured half-celestial. Efrem lunged forward from behind and to the side of Okku, again taking advantage of the extra impetus his wings could grant, and his Greatsword stabbed into the rear and outside of Okku's thigh.

The bear-god's leg buckled slightly as his spirit-flesh parted and then buckled completely as Kaelyn got within range and swung her mace into the knee of that leg. Okku overbalanced and crashed to the ground on his side, almost rolling onto his back with his own momentum before he got his feet back under him. He started to rise onto his three working legs, dirt that had been forced into the wound by the fall dribbling back out of it as his spirit-flesh started to heal together. Neeshka however had caught up. She was nearly as fast as the half-celestials but Okku had been running almost straight away from her so it had taken that moment longer. As Okku began rising she stabbed her rapier to slice across where the tendons on the back of his other rear leg would have been.

Hamstrung Okku felt his other rear leg collapse and him thud back down onto his belly. His spirit-flesh was still shimmering, reforming, and healing but for now neither of his rear legs were working properly. Ahead of him his prey had reversed direction again, though less abruptly, and there would be little he could do to stop that attack or the attacks of those that had been following him. It tasted as bitter as water of a polluted lake but Okku knew the flavour of defeat.

"Enough… I yield…" Okku growled, raising his head slightly to meet Blake's gaze.

Blake hesitated; he could see Okku was still healing so this could be a ploy to gain time for Okku to recover enough to continue to fight. But that sort of trick seemed beneath a god of bears, it would not be noble, was the sort of thing only someone with a streak of peasant-practicality, like Blake had, would do.

"Hurry, little one," chided Okku as he saw Blake stop rather than strike. "Take your blade. Tear out my throat."

"You were never my enemy," Blake replied with a frown, still keeping his sword ready and noting the others were also still alert. "I spared Lorne in my trial by combat as his defeat, not his death, showed Tyr's judgement. I would also make peace with you, learn what your reasons are, not end your life needlessly…"

"No, you must finish me!" protested Okku. "Do it fast before…."

"Aaaah!" Blake screamed, interrupting Okku and bending double in agony, almost stabbing himself with his own sword as his arms came in to hug his own stomach.

"Harbour-boy!" cried Neeshka, starting to hurry towards Blake, careless of the wounded bear-god in the way.

Blake grunted before he could speak again. "Hells! This again," he said, forcing the words out.

"What is that?" asked Gann, his eyes widening. "It felt like… a backlash, a whip across my mind."

"Stop this attack!" Kaelyn commanded uselessly. "Whatever you are doing, you're feeding on his spirit, siphoning it!"

Blake straightened up and continued so his spine arched backwards. He jerked around like a marionette on the strings of an inexperienced puppeteer and behind him a shadowy tentacled form began to become visible though it was barely darker than the night around him. Neeshka halted, her eyes going huge as she saw this, but then she frowned in determination and continued on.

"The presence inside you…" Okku said weakly as a beam of something linked him to Blake, his wounds no longer shimmering with healing as that energy was drawn away elsewhere, "it wakes…"

"What… is… this?" asked Blake between clenched teeth, forcing his body to remain still though his muscles were fighting against each other.

"Emptiness… hunger," Okku replied, his brilliant colours dimming. "Forgive me… I tried to stop you…"

"I… I…" groaned Blake, and then he felt a slender hand cup the cheek-guard of his helmet, and fingertips brush in a light caress across his lips and the moustache and beard surrounding them. He tilted his head and his eyes met Neeshka's worried gaze, she gave him an encouraging smile and Blake growled deep in his throat as he felt fresh strength from her love. "I… will… not! I… said peace… not kill! This… this… will… stop!"

With each word the beam between Okku and Blake jittered and faded and as Blake asserted his will it vanished, as did the shadowy form behind him. Blake staggered in reaction and would have fallen if Neeshka had not been there to support him. For a moment there was only the sound of the deep ragged breaths Blake was taking while he leaned on Neeshka and then, as expected, Gann was the first to break the silence.

"Did… did you just rein in an attack?" Gann asked, his curiosity overpowering. "I felt your hunger, felt it ripple through the spirits, then felt it become chained, caged."

"You spared me, little one," rumbled Okku, his voice already strengthening and his wounds starting to heal again. "Once before a spirit-eater spared my life, I remember a lake of groaning ice, a man standing over me, in triumph… and a hunger withheld, in mercy."

Blake straightened up, anger on his face and in his voice as he snarled. "What in the Hells just happened to me?"

Neeshka blinked, the last time and perhaps the only time she had seen Blake this angry had been when Black Garius had boasted of how he had tortured her. Even Bishop and Sand betraying them had not brought such a rage to her sweetheart.

"A hunger has woken inside you," Okku explained as Blake glared at him, "an empty horror that feeds on spirits and souls. I could smell it on you, back in my barrow. Nakata must have smelled it too. Your hunger, if left unchecked, could consume every spirit of Rashemen. Do you wonder why we felt we had no choice but to kill you?"

Blake looked at Okku a moment, this did sound a good reason for Okku and the other spirits to want him dead but a good reason was not the same as no choice. Then an implication floated to the surface of Blake's thoughts and fresh anger flared within him. "Those bastard Red Wizards," he hissed.

"Harbour-boy?" Neeshka asked, looking worried again and a little puzzled.

"I don't know much about Rashemen," admitted Blake, glancing at her and then the others, his eyes still a little wild, "but I have heard a tale or two of how this land's spirits have defended it. If something can be released that will weaken those spirits would that not be good news for the Thayans?"

"You think they cursed you to make you into a weapon?" Gann asked, a tinge of horror in his voice at the idea of driving the spirits of the land towards extinction.

"I think they tried," growled Blake, barely glancing at his sword to check if it was clean before he slammed it back into its scabbard.

"Hopefully the one that took you survived that other Red Wizard's attack," Neeshka said, twitching her rapier around a little as her tail also twitched. "I really want to… express my gratitude for what she's done to you."

"Mph," mused Okku. "I swore an oath, little one. To serve the spirit-eater who spared my life long ago and help him end his curse. A simple oath, but I must have failed. Your curse is the proof of my shame. So now I swear the same to you."

"First," Blake replied hesitantly, "tell me everything you know about this… curse."

"Memories fail me, little friend, I was alive in those days," admitted Okku. "It is like asking the river to remember the snow that gave it birth. I remember the oath, and the scent of your hunger… these were strong in my mind when I laid down in my barrow to die. And I know… I paid a price for helping the man who spared my life. For letting him share my grave. But I do not remember what it was."

"But what is this hunger?" Blake pressed.

"That… I do not know. It is not a matter of remembering, I do not think I ever knew. But I know it will kill you, little friend. It will devour you from within, as it did the other spirit-eater, the one who spared my life."

"Hmm. A fate I would sooner avoid," Blake said with considerable understatement, "and your oath to end this curse should not go incomplete. I accept your offer Okku and welcome your friendship for as long as you give it."

Neeshka looked very dubious and leaned in close to where Blake's ear was beneath his helmet. "I hope you know what you are doing," she said quietly.

"Good, we will end this curse, flesh and spirit together," Okku said confidently. "Until my vow is kept, these beasts will have no king… no one worthy of the name. Let them go back to my barrow and dream."

"Old king bear deigns to travel with us?" commented Gann. "Oh, we are honoured indeed! I am already here, but one more legend will make pleasant company."

"Do not make me regret sparing you during our battle, Hagspawn," Okku said, looking almost as unimpressed with Gann's comment as Neeshka did.

"Now, now, old king bear, let us show respect for our strongly cursed and bearded ally and not fight again," replied Gann with humour. "You have named him as spirit-eater which bodes ill events to come for spirit-eaters must feed or they die."

Blake glanced at the pair and briefly considered who was the more valuable ally, the shaman of the spirits or the god of them. Perhaps the latter and now Gann had aided him against Okku that had repaid any debt for being released from the prison. If Gann wished to leave he was free to do so and that reminded Blake of another obligation that had now been discharged so with a slightly unsteady stride he began to approach the trio of half-celestials. Neeshka saw what he was doing and used the excuse of drawing her cloak back out of that magic bag and putting it back on as a reason to hold back rather than join him.

"My thanks for your aid," Blake said simply.

"And our thanks for returning our sister to us," replied Efrem, one hand scratching at the grooves in his armour. "We have done as we promised and helped you overcome the spirit army."

"And I did as I agreed," Kaelyn added, conveying annoyance despite her serene expression and tone of voice, "and returned to Mulsantir so you could return me to them and hold them to their promise."

"Come," said Susah to both her siblings, interrupting before Blake and Kaelyn or Efrem and Kaelyn could argue, "let us speak with each other before we return to Celestia and Kaelyn returns to her questing."

"May Tymorra smile on you with good fortune and the Red Knight favour your plans," Blake said politely.

"My thanks," replied Kaelyn with even colder politeness. "May Ilmater comfort your suffering."

With that the three half-celestials left, moving back along the road towards the city. Blake watched them for a while as they approached the city and the pools of light around the few torches the Rashemi had placed and lit. There was another creaking as they got close enough and the city gates opened. Looking back at Neeshka she flashed him a relived smile from the moonlight shadows of her hood at the half-celestials departure. Blake returned the smile but hoped that the moonlight had not been strong enough for someone to see his beloved's perky horns or the lithe tail that adorned her rear. Or any of the details of the aftermath of the fight. Gann and Okku seemed to have fallen into a mutual silence so Blake moved back to join them.

"Ah," Gann greeted, seeing Blake's approach, "and was our Dove satisfied?"

"Not completely happy," replied Blake, after a moment to remember that was Kaelyn's title, "but debts had been settled, and the same would be true…"

"Wait," Gann interrupted, "I know what you are going to say, I think, and I accept our agreement was my aid here for my freedom from the Witches' prison. Unlike our winged former companions though I have reason to offer my continued aid." He paused and then decided to share his reason. "When my parents abandoned me it was the spirits of the land that nurtured and raised me. That debt has not and cannot be settled so, though I shall not offer you my oath, I do feel the need to help end this curse and safeguard them. Or at the least know where you are travelling and know what you are doing with it."

Blake nodded, accepting Gann's caveats and that he had reason to feel a duty to remain at Blake's side. The situation did seem more complex now Blake knew he had been fatally cursed and so tolerating Gann for his aid and knowledge made even more sense. That tolerance did depend though on whether Gann minded his manners towards Neeshka and whether he chose to intrude on anyone's mind in their travels.

"Your help has been appreciated," Blake finally said, "and I thank you for continuing to offer it."

"Now what?" asked Neeshka after a moment, looking to each of the other three for ideas.

"We should talk to the Witches," Blake replied, reluctance in his voice at the idea. "They may, now, let us speak with Magda and see what she knows of the plot that led us here and placed me in Okku's barrow."

"I too am interested in what placed you there," rumbled Okku, "and my questions are not to be denied."

"It may also serve us to speak with Nak'kai, the shaman of the Berserker lodge," Gann added, inclining his head at the truth of Okku's statement. "He does not have my connection with the land but he has some wisdom that may be of use."

"Any wisdom may be of use," commented Blake, "so let us return into Mulsantir then now they have been kind enough to open the gates, and before they decide their problems would be lessened by closing them again."