They entered a warm and friendly room furnished with a rustic wooden table and chairs with clean lines. In one corner of the room stood two rocking chairs made of gleaming dark wood. A fire blazed in the hearth, and a pot hanging above it gave off a mouthwatering smell.

At the kitchen bench stood a small grey haired woman in a brown dress. She looked up in surprise when the door opened.

“Grinna! Teren! You’re back already. Welcome home.” She exclaimed with a big smile, dropping the knife she was holding and darting up to the rangers to envelop Grinna in a warm embrace.

“Hello mother,” Grinna smiled and returned the embrace fondly, picking her mother up and whirling her around in a circle, before putting her down on the ground carefully.

“I’ve brought you a guest. Dawn, meet my mother Yasema.”

Yasema turned to Dawn and exclaimed: “A guest! What a surprise. Nice to meet you, Dawn. Be welcome in our home.”

“Thank you,” Dawn said abashed. She smiled shyly at Yasema, who looked her over and said to Grinna,

“You must be hungry. I didn’t expect you back so soon, so I haven’t prepared anything special. It’s just vegetable stew with a bit of beef tonight, I’m afraid.” She bustled about in the kitchen, taking plates down from the cupboard and getting cutlery from the drawer.

Grinna laughed. “It’s a lot better than eating trailbread and jerky once again, mother. There’s no need for anything special. Your stew smells heavenly.”

They were all sitting down to a hearty meal of vegetable and beef stew and rye bread moments later. Dawn relished the stew, she had missed properly cooked and seasoned meals during her time in the wilds.

“So, how come you’re back so early?” Yasema asked. “You were hardly gone two weeks, not that I’m not very glad to see you, of course.”

“You could say we found what we were looking for a bit faster than we expected.” Grinna retorted with a sigh. “And we found Dawn, too. I have invited her to stay with us for a while, mother. She was living on her own in the wilderness.”

“What? How on earth did that happen?” Yasema asked, aghast. “Of course, I’m happy to have you here. You’re lucky to be alive, Dawn.”

“I know, I had several narrow escapes during the last weeks.” Dawn brushed her hair out of her face nervously. In the end, she had to tell her story once again to Yasema. She kept the tale short, because she was bone tired after the long day and the excitement of meeting Madden and Grinna’s mother. After she kept yawning during her story telling, Yasema said, “My dear, you must be exhausted after the journey. Come with me, I’ll show you to your bed. We can have a proper talk in the morning.”

Dawn gratefully followed her upstairs to a little room, that was just big enough for a bed and a small dresser. She was fast asleep, as soon as she had laid down .

Once again she dreamt of the caves and the queen. A pile of eggs was heaped up in the queen’s chamber, pulsing silently. The queen looked on as the eggs were bursting and small grey demons emerged from them. It was a veritable flood of the grey beasts, several dozen at least, all of them the size of big cats. They streamed out of the chamber into the outer cave and the queen hissed: “Hunt my children. Survive and grow strong. Sssoon we will hunt bigger prey.”

Early the next morning, Dawn woke up from the noise outside her window. When she stood up and looked out, she saw a street bustling with people going about their business, exchanging lively greetings and sometimes pausing for a small chat with friends or acquaintances. Children were running along the street and the sun was shining. It was the picture of a happy and prosperous community.

Dawn picked up her clothing, wincing a bit when she registered the state of it and decided to wear one of her dresses after all. The men’s clothing she had worn during her stay in the wilderness and the exploration of the caves was in a dreadful state, stained and torn. ‘What an impression I must have made on Grinna’s mother’, she thought abashed.

She went down the stairs and found both rangers and Yasema in the big room. “Good morning, Dawn.” Yasema greeted her with a smile. “You’re looking much better this morning. Did you have a good rest? Sit down, breakfast will be ready in a few minutes.” She stirred the kettle above the fire and poured Dawn a mug of tea.

Yasema filled big bowls with the oat porridge she had prepared and added cream, honey and a sprinkling of nuts on top. They all tucked in with a will. When Dawn finally sat back with a contented sigh, Grinna looked at her and smiled. “The fare is much better in my mother’s kitchen than out in the wilds.”

“Absolutely true,” Dawn said and looked at Yasema. “Breakfast was wonderful. And the stew yesterday was excellent, too. You’re a better cook than even my mother. And she is renowned for her skills in the kitchen in Greenriver.” Yasema smiled warmly at Dawn. “I’m glad that you like my cooking. It is always more rewarding to cook for more than one person.”

“Speaking of your mother,” Grinna said. “I’m going to send a message to your parents in Greenriver that you are here with us.”

Dawn grimaced. She would be glad if her mother knew she was alive and well, but feared the reaction of her parents to the message. Well, Beran would hardly want to marry a runaway, so she needn’t fear marriage to him anymore at least.

“And I have made some plans for the next days. Today, you are first going to write a letter to your parents while Teren and I toil over our report to Madden. Afterwards we are going to the training court and you will get your first lesson in sword fighting by me and in shooting by Teren. Later you will have to stay with mother for a while. Teren and me are going out, to talk to a few people regarding the situation with the queen.” Saying that, Grinna sprang up and started to clear the table.

Dawn stood up, too and said: “Thank you, Grinna. And you too, Yasema. For your help and your hospitality and for the fighting lessons. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

She helped with clearing the table and the washing up and took out her writing case afterwards. Her letter to her parents was short and didn’t mention all the excitement of the past weeks. She wrote that she was alive and well, had met some rangers after leaving Greenriver and was staying at their home in Atelang for a while. Afterwards she handed over the letter to Grinna with mixed feelings. She wasn’t sure how her parents would react to it, wasn’t even sure what reaction she should wish for. Could she go back to Greenriver, if her parents told her to come back? Somehow she had the feeling that she wouldn’t fit into her old life anymore. But she couldn’t stay all alone in the wilderness, of that much she was sure after her experiences with beasts, demons and hunters. On the other hand she couldn’t stay in Atelang for good. She had no money and no family here. Grinna and her mother were very kind but she wouldn’t exploit their hospitality. And she missed Ankou in the city, she didn’t want to stay here without him.

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The fighting lessons with Grinna and Teren were a world away from her former stumbling attempts at training, together with Kharma. Dawn had dressed in her trousers once more, stained and torn as they were. Grinna gave her a training sword and showed her the basic stance, some regular sword strokes and a drill . She told Dawn to only repeat the basic drill, they would add more moves during the next lessons.

“It’s all about training basic moves so often that you do them instinctively, no thinking required.” Grinna said. Everything looked easy when Grinna did it, but for Dawn the moves took concentration and her sword seemed to get heavier by the second. She was more than glad when the allotted time was over and she could go to Teren for her lesson in shooting.

Teren showed her the correct stance and positioning of her hands. He taught her to get a feel for her bow and let her draw the bow a dozen times before he allowed her to shoot a single arrow. She was no great talent, but at the end of the lesson, she felt that she had a better understanding of what not to do. With repetition she would get better at hitting the target, she was sure.

They hadn’t been alone on the training court of course. Soldiers and rangers alike were using the court for their sword drills and occasional bouts against each other. Dawn’s presence had led to several raised eyebrows and disapproving glances, but Grinna had cheerfully ignored it all. Dawn had tried to imitate her in that, as best she could.

When they returned to Grinna’s home again, Dawn was once more sweaty and exhausted. Yasema glanced at her and immediately shooed her upstairs to wash and change.

“Come down when you’re ready. We will have tea and pastries together.” She said.

Grinna and Teren left for parts unknown and Dawn had a comfortable time with Yasema, talking about Greenriver and her life there and asking Yasema questions about her life in Atelang, Grinna and the rangers.

Afterwards, Dawn laid out her men’s clothes and started once again to repair the tears, beasts and the wilderness had left behind. Yasema was working on some sewing of her own and they were chatting pleasantly. Later on, Yasema started to cook and Dawn was left to her own devices for a while. She stowed the repaired clothing in her ring and and once more noticed the echo stone, that was still inside. She had almost forgotten about it during the last days. Dawn took it out and held it in her hands. The familiar man appeared. Again, she went through all the messages she had heard before, until finally a new one appeared.

The man looked tired and dispirited in this one. His curly brown hair seemed limp and lifeless.

“7th of Chamzim in the eighth year of the reign of King Rakna the seventh. It is worse than I thought. Black veins are appearing all over Saida’s body. I don’t know exactly what happened, but it is clear something must have gone wrong during the ritual. Saida continues to act erratically. Sometimes she seems just like the old Saida, my kind and gentle wife. On other occasions she is cold and distant and doesn’t even want to talk to me. I’m diligently studying my notices regarding the ritual. I need to find out what went wrong.”

After the message, once more a litany of experiments carried out and their results followed. Dawn failed to understand the significance of these. Finally a new message came up.

“18th of Chamzim in the eighth year of the reign of King Rakna the seventh. All my experiments have been unsuccessful. I am unable to comprehend what went wrong in Saida’s ritual. Her change has progressed further now. Almost all her skin has turned black, and her eyes have started to change, too. In her beautiful brown eyes, tiny red glowing pinpricks appeared. Her moods have deteriorated, I am almost unable to recognize this volatile person as my wife. To make matters worse, my family has started to question my prolonged absence. They feel it is my duty to once more live in the city and take part in normal life, and want me to start working again. I have no time for their concerns, rectifying Saida’s situation must be my main priority, but of course I can’t tell them that. This needs to be carefully managed, if they should turn up here in my laboratory and happen upon Saida, it would be a disaster.”

The usual litany of attempted experiments and their results followed, once more it all was gibberish to Dawn. The next time the man appeared for a message, he looked awful, hair wild, eyes desparing and an air of general defeat hanging over him.

“27th of Chamzim in the eighth year of the reign of King Rakna the seventh. This is a nightmare. I never dreamt this could happen. Saida has been roaming around the caves at night all the time lately. She just ignored me when I told her that no one must see her and asked her to be careful. The changes have grown, she is black all over and her eyes have turned completely red now. Yesterday night, I went looking for her when I woke up and once more found myself alone in bed. I can’t help but wish I hadn’t found her. I was searching for her high and low and finally discovered her in a little cave on the west side, that hasn’t been in use lately because of its humidity. She had engraved a runic circle and was reenacting the ritual. I stumbled upon her just as she was pushing the knife into the heart of some unlucky guard, whom she somehow managed to overwhelm. She killed him and seemed to bathe in his blood. I couldn’t believe my eyes. And I fear it has not been the first time she has done this. I discovered more corpses in the cave. When I remonstrated with her, I felt so stunned I hardly knew what to say, she grew aggressive and threatened me. This is not my wife anymore. I feel that she has been taken over by an unknown entity. What have I done? In my hubris, I was convinced that the ban of blood magic was old fashioned and overcautious. But I see more clearly, now that it is too late. I can’t turn back time, but Saida can’t keep roaming and killing here unchecked. I will go to the council now and confess all. It may be the end for me, but Saida needs to be stopped. I can’t do it myself, I don’t have the strength. They will know what to do. May the gods forgive me.”

That was the end of the messages in the echo stone. Dawn sat stunned. The poor man. What had happened to him and his wife? She feared she would never find out. He must have been brilliant, with all his experiments in alchemy and magic. And yet, in the end it had been his undoing.