Lelwyn looked at Tethith in confusion. “How shortly?” he asked. “It took us nigh on a week to find the necromancer’s tower and days longer still to defeat him.”

It was then Tethith’s turn to be confused. “If it took that long for you to find the necromancer, how could the curse have possibly broken so quickly?” she mused.

Kirel sighed. “Does it really matter?” he asked. “Isn’t the important thing that the necromancer is dead and the curse on your village broken?”

Jolen shrugged. “I’m with Kirel on this,” he announced. “Dead necromancer and safe village? I’m happy,” he pointed out while stretching his tired muscles.

Rikel grunted in annoyance. “I’m starting to think that Tyren, the necromancer,” she explained to Tethith, “wasn’t working alone; and I don’t just mean the poachers that we killed,” she added before anybody could point them out.

Tethith nodded. “If you tell me where you fought the necromancer, I’ll make sure that the area is under observation and that we’ll be on the look out for anything similar,” she promised.

Lelwyn bowed. “Of course,” he agreed before recounting the location and description of Tyren’s tower.

Before Tethith could relay that information to her town guards, Bewr raised her hand. “Um,” she gathered the mayor’s attention. “If the curse is over, does that mean that food is being grown again?” she asked.

Tethith shook her head. “While our crops are staring to grow and our milk animals are starting to produce again,” she started, “it’s not the right season to get much out of them. Also, I’m afraid that we need all that we can get for the villagers and will have none to spare to reward you with like you richly deserve,” she apologized.

Lelwyn nodded. “That is quite understandable, madam mayor,” he agreed. “We shall make do with conjured food for a little while longer,” he ordered to the others, causing them to groan in protest.

Mayor Tethith gave a short bow and went to tell the patrols where to look and what to look for. Kirel stretched and yawned. “Well, now that real food is off of the table tonight,” he complained. “What are we going to do about tonight’s sleeping arrangements?”

Jolen stepped forward. “The four of you are more than welcome to sleep at Durana manor,” he informed them. “And I don’t just mean for tonight or this visit to Midway; this offer is open whenever you’re in Midway from now on,” he clarified with a smile.

Lelwyn placed a hand on Jolen’s shoulder. “Your offer of hospitality is gratefully accepted,” he announced. “Please, lead the way.” Jolen smiled and lead the group to his family’s home for them to sleep the night.

The next morning, Jolen led the group to his family’s crypt. “As I understand it,” he started. “This is the first time a non-elf has ever stepped foot in here,” he announced.

Bewr reached out to hold Jolen’s arm. “If we’re violating some ancient elvish custom,” she started.

Jolen chuckled humorlessly. “It is not a custom,” he interrupted. “Just, I don’t think a situation like this ever really came up before,” he added with a sad smile. Jolen walked past the several sarcophagi nested in the walls to one that, unlike the others, had no dust on it. He pointed at the sarcophagus. “This is where Telina was entombed,” he announced while barely holding back his tears of grief.

The group stood around Telina’s sarcophagus in silence. Lelwyn was the first to break the silence. “While we did not know you for long,” he started, “I hope that you are able to find the solace in death that you appear to have been denied in life.”

Kirel took a deep breath. “I won’t claim to know everything that you went through in your far too short life,” he began. “But what I saw was a gentle soul who cared more for others than for herself. If Terris had more people like you, it would be far better place for all to live.”

Bewr put her arm around Kirel’ shoulder and cried. Kirel hugged Bewr in silence.

Rikel placed a hand on Telina’s sarcophagus. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to protect you,” she confessed with a sob. She then turned to Jolen with tears freely flowing from her eyes. “It’s my fault your sister died,” she cried.

Jolen stopped her by holding up his hand. “She ran in front of you in a way that you couldn’t protect her,” he interrupted.

Rikel looked at him in shock. “Who told you about that?” she demanded.

Jolen laughed sadly. “When we were young, Telina and I would occasionally get in fights with the other children,” he explained. “She’d do similar things even back then.” He reached out and grabbed Rikel’s shoulders. “The only ones I blame for Telina’s death are the poachers that you killed in Tyren’s tower,” he promised her.

Kirel suddenly gasped. Lelwyn looked at him. “What is it, my old friend?” the healer asked.

Kirel looked at him with ashen eyes. “We forgot all about the dragon that we saw heading towards Nighforest while we were in the forest!” he announced in fear.

Lelwyn nodded in determination. “Than we must make haste back to Nighforest,” he ordered.

The others quickly headed back to Durana manor to gather their supplies and headed out.

As the group reached Nighforest several days later shortly before sunset, Rikel took a look at the pristine village and turned to the others. “Could we have been wrong about the direction the dragon was heading?” she asked them.

Jolen walked over to her. “The dragon was flying in a straight line in this direction. It was either going here or to the mountains to the north,” he explained.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Rikel saw a well-armored man walking nearby and shouted out to him while running up to him. “Excuse me! Did you see anything odd overhead recently?” she asked him.

The figure turned to her. “I am not a resident of this village and I only arrived here this morning,” he explained. “If you will excuse me, I have business in the temple,” he excused himself with a bow of his head before taking off.

As the armored man ran off, Kirel got the group’s attention. “Maybe the dragon was just an illusion to scare us off,” he theorized.

Bewr scratched her chin while thinking. “I don’t know, Kirel. It’d take a lot of power to create an illusion accurate enough to create a stampede like that,” she countered. “Also, nobody who knew magic knew that we even needed scaring off when that happened.”

Rikel shrugged. “Whatever happened, the only way to get more information is to ask around. Let’s meet at the temple at sunset. Agreed?” she suggested to the group.

The group nodded and parted ways. They reunited at the temple as the sun set as they agreed. Bewer shrugged apologetically. “Sorry, nobody I talked to saw anything strange since the last time we were here,” she informed them..

Jolen stretched his arms. “The strangest thing I found out about was me and another elf leaving the forest recently. Not that we’d know anything about who that could have been, of course,” he smiled.

Kirel shook his head at Jolen’s antics. “That’s about all that I was able to find out, myself,” he agreed.

Lelwyn walked into the temple. “I fared no better. It appears that all of our hopes in uncovering the truth lie with you now, Rikel,” he joked.

Rikel rolled her eyes. “Of course, there’s no pressure, right?” she joked back. “In seriousness, I didn’t find out anything, either. I even talked to Draleth; he also hadn’t heard anything of value.”

Lelwyn sighed. “It appears that we must accept that this mystery must remain unsolved, at least by us. Come, let us speak to the temple priests about lodging for the evening and conjure ourselves a supper,” he ordered.

At Jolen’s confused look at the mention of conjured food, Bewr chimed in. “Nighforest had a bad harvest. Lelwyn doesn’t want to risk further depleting their food stocks by buying food they may not be able to spare. Also, we can’t stay at the inn or they’d try to sell us food.”

Jolen nodded in understanding. “Could the curse that affected my village have spread all the way out here?” he asked in concern.

Bewr shook her head. “We stopped Tyren before he could have spread the curse beyond Midway. This harvest failure was just a coincidence. Assuming you believe in coincidences,” she added as a joke.

Jolen snorted in amusement. “Of course I do! I just never trust them when they do happen,” he added.

Bewr started laughing so hard she almost fell over where she was walking. Rikel raised an eyebrow and looked to Lelwyn. “Care to explain the joke?”

Before Lelwyn could answer, Kirel butted in. “Short version: Jolen almost quoted a character from one of Bewr’s favorite series of stories.” He then turned to Bewr. “And no, I’m not joining you as you catch up on what we missed while we were on this journey,” he told her.

Lelwyn shrugged. “I never particularly cared for that series of stories, myself.” he admitted.

Bewr made a face at the other mages and entered the room she was to sleep in for the evening, leaving the others to shrug at her antics. Rikel looked at the mages. “Is she always like that?”

Kirel smirked. “She may not always act like that,” he admitted jokingly.

Lelwyn, without missing a beat, smiled. “Though she does so quite frequently,” the healer continued the joke, causing the others to laugh.

Jolen raised an eyebrow. “How often have the two of you practiced that little routine?” he asked.

Kirel and Lewlyn looked at each other and blushed. Kirel cleared his throat. “Come on Jolen,” he chuckled. “You’ve spent more than a day with her. Do you honestly think that you’re the first one to ask that kind of question?” he asked.

Jolen thought for a moment before bowing to Kirel’s point. “Very well,” he acknowledged. “In the meantime, what are we to do with ourselves for the rest of the evening, what with the tavern closed off to us?” he asked.

Kirel shrugged his shoulders. “I have some cards,” he pointed out. “Want to have a game?” he asked.

Rikel chuckled. “As long as we don’t play for money,” she insisted. “I don’t get paid for this trip until we get back to Grainmarket,” she pointed out.

Jolen laughed. “I didn’t bring much spare money with me, either,” he admitted.

Lelwyn motioned towards the dining room. “Shall we begin in earnest?” he asked with a smile.

The quartet made their way to the dining room and found an unused table in a corner. Once seated, Kirel pulled out a deck of cards and started shuffling. “Plain or trump?” he asked as he shuffled.

Lelwyn shrugged. “I care not, one way or the other,” he admitted while leaning back in his chair.

Jolen shook his head. “I prefer plain,” he announced.

Rikel chuckled. “I actually like trump,” she admitted. “How about we make each hand dealer’s choice?” she suggested as a compromise.

As the rest nodded in agreement, Kirel started dealing. “In that case, earth takes trump and sphinx is ruler,” he announced as he turned up the first card.

After a few games, the head priest of the temple walked up to the group with a younger man in tow. “I apologize for the intrusion,” the priest began. “But I was telling young Jancon here about your recent adventure and he asked to speak with you. Will that be acceptable?”

Lelwyn smiled. “We would be pleased to speak with Jancon,” he announced while gesturing at an empty seat.

Jancon nodded and sat in the indicated seat. The priest nodded to the group. “I must be off, I have duties to attend.”

After the priest left, Kirel dealt Jancon a hand. “So, what can we do for you?” he asked.

Jancon declined to pick up the cards. “I thank you for the attempt at inclusion but I do not know the rules to this game,” he admitted. “As to why I wished to speak to you, I wanted to know if you encountered anything odd while fighting the necromancer.” he told them.

Lelwyn nodded. “The oddest thing we encountered would definitely be the dragon,” he reported.

Jancon raised his eyebrow. “You saw a dragon? Could you describe it?” he asked eagerly.

Jolen chuckled. “We all hid as soon as I realized it was coming,” he admitted. “If we say it again, we couldn’t even be certain if it was the same dragon or a different one.”

Jancon nodded. “I see. When did you see it?”

Kirel did some quick math. “About a week ago,” he concluded before quickly recounting the location before Jancon could ask that obvious next question.

Jancon slowly blinked. “Thank you for that,” he answered. Did you see anything, apart the dragon?”

Jolen laid down his cards with a grin. “I win this hand!” he announced to the groans of the other players before turning to Jancon. “There was also the necromancer’s tower made entirely out of bone,” he added.

Jancon raised his eyebrows. “Anything else?” he asked.

Rikel gathered the cards and started shuffling. “Water is trump with no ruler,” she announced while dealing. “Wasn’t there that artifact thing in the poacher’s cottage?” she asked the mages.

Lelwyn pinched the bridge of his nose. “How could I have let such a momentous event slip my mind?” he asked rhetorically. “We found what may have been a Nertel era artifact in the woods. For the details, you’d have to ask our absent member; she’s our enchanter,” he admitted.

Jancon stood up quickly. “Thank you, no,” he stammered. “I believe I now have what I needed to know,” he assured them before literally running off.

Kirel sighed in relief. “I’m glad he left when he did,” he admitted. “I was starting to get a migraine.”

Before Rikel could admonish the mage, Lelwyn held up his hand. “Jancon had some rather strong enchantments active,” he explained. “Strong enough to cause migraines in the magically inclined,” he added in Kirel’s defense.

Rikel nodded in conceit of the point. “Well, it’s getting late,” she observed. “We should probably get some sleep before we leave for Grainmarket,” she suggested.