Lightning from Afar
In the city of Astrazalian, the guards of the High Wizard's Quarters woke slowly from their deep sleep. Erevan looked around in alarm; nothing like that had ever happened to him before. His alarm grew when he noticed the door to Soveljinn's quarters standing open.
"Sound the alarm," he cried, "the High Wizard's quarters have been broken into!"
In a few moments, the streets were crowded with people, all of them wondering and speculating about what had happened. The streets seemed to be filled with the entire population of Astrazalian. Soveljinn and Lady Shandria appeared and quickly vanished into the tower.
Soveljinn left Lady Shandria in his foyer, searched his quarters, and returned to her with a grim look on his face. "The artifact we retrieved from Cendriane has disappeared. I had it hidden and heavily warded; only an extremely powerful wizard could have broken my wards."
Lady Shandria sighed and said, "I can venture one guess as to who this mysterious wizard was: the one I welcomed recently to our city, but who would not give his name. He claimed to be a wandering wizard who came to our city to view her wonders. None of the wizards who dwell in the city would be crazy enough to break into your quarters."
Soveljinn looked grim and asked, "Is there any way we can find him? I could sense that the artifact held immense power and I had barely started examining it."
"I'm afraid not," replied Shandria. "He gave no indication of where he intended to go after he left the city, if he has indeed left the city. Perhaps if we..."
A guard rushed into the room and quickly panted out, "My Lady! Something is happening in one of the fomorian siege camps!"
Lady Shandria threw a worried look to Soveljinn and hurriedly left the room. The streets were empty; almost everyone had headed to the walls to see what was going on. Soveljinn and Shandria climbed to the top of the walls, and were shocked at the spectacle.
To the south, the fomorian camp was in an uproar. Flashes of lighting lit the sky, and half the camp seemed to be burning from fires set by lightning. As they watched, another flash lit the sky and a large portion of the camp disappeared. Lady Shandria turned to Soveljinn and commented, "I think we may have found our mysterious wizard. Except he seems to be more powerful than he let on."
Soveljinn replied, "So it seems. I do not think we are going to be able to retrieve that staff."
After a short while, the lightning died down and the fomorians appeared to have fled. The city of Astrazalian breathed a sigh of relief; less fomorians made the winter safer and easier to endure.