Teren replied, “You are a very welcome sight, Sage.” With a radiant smile, that managed to turn his rugged face nearly beautiful.
“But before we start to chat, let us first see if the surroundings are free of enemies.”
They turned around and looked.
In the aftermath of the battle, the Kharlins were making sure that all of the spiderlings were truly dead, mostly by heaving their carcasses from the ledge into the lake. This served the double purpose of freeing the ledge so they could get through without problems.
The rangers in their turn made a joint effort to push the corpse of the demon they had fought into the lake as well.
Dawn went off to look for any wounded combatants after first healing Grinna and Nathan, though the former protested that she had only a few scratches.
Dawn just ignored her protests and activated Nurture. Nathan’s brows rose as he observed the effect of her healing spell on Grinna and he made no effort to demur as the turn came to him.
It took a bit of time until Dawn had checked all the hunters over and healed each one in his or her turn. Even if they sported only minor wounds, she saw no reason to risk an infection, when she could easily take care of them.
As she made her way onto the island afterwards she was greeted enthusiastically by Echo and Chaos. She had to brace herself before the onslaught of the two tiny terrors and laughingly fended off eager attempts from the cubs to climb her like a tree. Tiny the two might be, but their claws were still sharp.
Ankou followed in their wake, satisfaction written into every line of his body as he greeted her.
[You won. It is good to see your claws have sharpened somewhat.]
“Damned with faint praise.” Dawn said, shaking her head as she stroked his gleaming fur. She was glad to spend a few minutes with him and the cubs. It helped her to come down from her after battle jitters.
The Kharlins were quite elated. Their plan had worked, they had eliminated a lot of the spiderlings and gained experience to boot. Only the death of one of their group cast a shadow on the heightened mood.
After some time, everyone had gathered around the fire on the island. The bridge had been dismantled again for security. As Dermo had reminded everyone: winning one battle was all well and good, but one never knew when the next enemy would cross one’s way.
Dermo waited until the talk among the group had mostly died down, then stood up and said:
“Today, we defeated our enemy. After living in fear of them for as long as we can remember, finally we took up our courage and fought. I am glad we did. It feels good to finally fight back.
But … it was not without cost. Today, one of our fellow hunters fell to the demons. Today, Nenya has taken her last step and come to the end of her path. She has begun her journey into the shadows. May the Vixen take care of her soul.”
“Vixen protect her from the darkness.” The Kharlins murmured together.
“Let her memory live on among us.” Dermo continued.
“We will remember.” Came the joint response.
Silence reigned for a little while. Then Dermo cleared his throat and said.
“Let me also express our gratitude to our fellow human fighters. They are the main the creators of our battle plan and without them, today’s battle might have had a very different outcome. Thank you for your help.” He put his clawed hand on his chest and bowed in the direction of the rangers, then continued.
“Keep in mind: While we won our fight against the spiderlings today, it is by no means sure that we took care of all of the enemies. Fortunately, our plan worked as well as could be expected. But there is still every reason to stay cautious. So we will rest here on the island for the remaining part of the day and start our journey home with fresh energy tomorrow at dawn.”
He sighed, his ears drooping slightly, and said.
“We will lay Nenya to rest on this island. May her spirit look out forever on the site of our victory.”
Uneasy murmurs rose among the Kharlins until Severn braced himself and spoke up.
“Would it not be more proper to take her body with us and grant her family the chance to lay her to rest formally?” He asked, visibly ill at ease.
“Under other circumstances I would agree with you. But there is a high probability that we will have to fight further enemies, be they demons or beasts on the way back. In case we are forced to retreat I don’t want to take the chance that we have to leave Nenya’s body behind.” Dermo retorted.
His reasoning seemed to appease some of the hunters, but it was easy to see that not everyone agreed with him. Still, no one spoke out further against his decision.
Several of the group started to dig a grave into the loamy earth of the island. Shortly after they had started to dig though, uneasy mutterings started again. When Dawn looked over, she saw that the Kharlins had started to excavate bleached bones from the soft ground. A lot of them.
Grinna strode over and said quietly.
“It’s to be expected. This island was the hunting ground of a Dreamkiller for who knows how long. As strong as it was, it surely had a lot of victims.”
Her explanation calmed the group somewhat. Still, there were many unhappy faces as they dug down further, until the grave was finally deep enough to lay Nenya to rest there.
After the burial, everyone dispersed. Some of the hunters started to fish in the lake together with Ankou, who seemed to teach the eager cubs to fish at the same time.
Dawn looked onto the proceedings with mixed feelings. Only a little while ago they had sunk a lot of corpses into the lake and now they were fishing in it. Despite her misgivings, in the end she wouldn’t refuse to eat grilled fish for her next meal. She was heartily tired of eating durable travel provisions.
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The rangers were still sitting at the campfire, chatting comfortably with each other.
Suddenly, Dawn felt lonely. Ankou was occupied with fishing and watching over the cubs. The rangers were obviously wrapped up with themselves. The Kharlins were talking and joking around in their groups. She was the odd one out.
For a moment, her thoughts wandered to her family. What was her mother doing now?
Dawn couldn’t even remember what day of the week it was. She hadn’t kept track during her time in the wilderness and with the Kharlins.
Most likely Elaine would be outside of their cottage, taking care of the garden. Caleb would no doubt be with Cord in his carpentry workshop, being taught the basics of trade. Surely he had gotten his new hunting bow by now. She smiled slightly at the thought of how proud he would be to own his own bow.
Sadness gripped her at the thought that she might never see her mother again, that her family didn’t even want to see her again.
With an effort, she pushed aside the thought of being all alone now and shook herself.
What was she thinking? Didn’t she have a companion in Ankou? And the cubs as a part of her family now as well. She had befriended Grinna and Teren, and Kharma as well. Not to speak of Nuala, whom she adored. And further she had the beginnings of a friendship with Verene.
Already she had come further on her own chosen Path than she had hoped for. During the battle she had reached level 12. And they had won an important fight today. She was well on her way to eliminate the gray demons.
No, she had no reason at all to be maudlin.
Determined, she strode over to the campfire and the rangers.
“You came at the perfect time, though I didn’t expect to see you here,” Grinna was just saying.
“Last I heard you were somewhere north, no doubt drinking something unspeakably vile with the barbarians.”
Nathan rolled his eyes in mock exasperation.
“Fermented milk is not that bad, Spark. It is an acquired taste.”
“One that I never plan to acquire.” Grinna shuddered. “It is really a shame. In many aspects they are a very reasonable lot. No stupid traditions about women not being allowed to fight, and they say what they mean. None of that pussyfooting around that our people are so very fond of. Unfortunately, their fondness for eating goat cheese and drinking that abominable rumiss is a severe drawback.”
“I assume that their tradition of living as nomads would be the most stringent obstacle for you.” Nathan smiled faintly.
“But I returned from the hunting grounds of the Sarmeni a week ago. Only to find Madden nearly frothing at the mouth after you and Teren went looking for your young protegé. He insisted that it was all a colossal waste of time. Once a runaway, always a runaway and so on. Be careful with him Spark, or one day you’ll be the recipient of an unexpected knife in the back.” He warned.
“It is not as if I go out of my way to antagonize him,” Grinna sighed. “But the bare fact that I am alive and a member of the rangers suffices to enrage him. No action on my part required. It all gets to be very tiresome.”
“Tiresome it may be, but have a care. He might even use your help for the Kharlins in this fight against you. You know how the Chamz’at looks at them.”
“The Chamz’at doesn’t know what it’s talking about.” Grinna twisted her lips in digust.
“But they have a lot of power and influence. And Madden is a favourite with them.” Nathan warned, his face grim.
“He always knew which side his bread was buttered on.” Grinna shrugged.
Dawn asked hesitantly.
“What does the Chamz’at have against the Kharlins?”
The temple might be rigorous in its adherence to tradition, a fact she didn’t care for overmuch with her own wish to break out of these traditions. Nevertheless, she had alway seen it as a benign influence on the lives of the villagers. The Gods helped them. They got their path and skills from them. Of course the temple was a force for good in this world.
Nathan looked at her inquiringly.
“The Chamz’at believes in the five gods,” he said with emphasis.
“Of course,” Dawn retorted, confused. That was common knowledge.
“Well, obviously the Vixen is not one of the five.” Nathan added as he saw her confusion.
“Oh!” For a moment, Dawn felt very stupid. She had easily taken the existence of the Kharlin goddess in her stride. To her, another goddess hadn’t seemed any more strange than ancient lost cities or the existence of grey demons.
But of course, the temple taught that all Paths came from the five gods. There was no space for a sixth one in their creed.
“The Chamz’at deems all people who worship any other god than the accepted five heretics. And heretics are to be eliminated.” Nathan explained further.
“But obviously the Kharlins are granted their own paths from the Vixen. Only a god or goddess can grant someone a path. So how can they deny that the Vixen is a goddess?” Dawn exclaimed in incomprehension.
“The Chamz’at claims only the five gods are able to grant a path. Everything else are lies spread by demons. Not the overgrown spiders we just fought against, but demons as evil entities from the hells as explained in temple doctrine.” Nathan twisted his lips and shrugged.
“But,..” Dawn trailed off. She found it simply impossible to wrap her mind around Nathan’s explanation of the facts.
The temple said the Kharlins were to be eliminated as heretics?
Dawn thought back to the time she had spent with the Kharlins. Nuala’s wise advice and her sympathy when she had struggled with her rejection by her family. Verene’s grief when she had thought her father was destined to die. Kharma’s company on the road back from the ancient city.
“But they are persons!” she protested finally. “Simply killing them because the pray to another god than the accepted five cannot be right. That would be evil!”
“No one ever said that faith had to be rational.” Nathan told her.
“Sadly, Nathan is right.” Grinna added.
“Which is the reason why our account to Madden of the fight against the spiders will be severely edited,” she continued.
“There will be no mention of a big battle. Or of the Kharlins. Only of several skirmishes and ambushes to whittle down their numbers.”
“Agreed.” Nathan nodded in consent.
“But let us not talk further about the unpleasant facts of life.” He said with a smile.
“I have to offer my apologies to you Dawn.”
“Apologies? Why on earth?” Dawn replied in incomprehension.
“Well, at our first meeting I didn’t really believe your story about the demons. Truth to tell, I was sure you had severely exaggerated the size and numbers of your enemies.” He told her with a rueful shrug.
“After today, I find myself disabused of that notion. So naturally, I offer my sincere apologies.”
Dawn shook her head.
“I can certainly understand that it was hard to believe me. Think nothing of it.”
Nathan acknowledged her words with a beaming smile.
Grinna interjected, “You have yet to tell us how you came to appear at the battle at such a fortuitous moment. Did Madden send you out after us?”
“Far from it,” Nathan said. “When I returned and went to Madden for my report, I found him together with Reis Mallem, who seemed to be a bit anxious because his son Aaron had left the city a few days prior without any word. Of course he was accompanied by a whole bevy of guards, but that obviously wasn’t enough for his father. I was promptly sent out again by Madden to look for said son, all to ease the mind of the Reis.”
He frowned as he continued.
“At first it was easy to follow the tracks of his company, but in the end I lost them in a a deep gorge. I was searching around for further traces of them unsuccessfully when I stumbled on the signs you left behind. I thought I might look for you first and we could search for Reis Mallem’s son together afterwards.”
Dawn exchanged uneasy looks with Grinna and Teren at his disclosure. But Nathan was already talking again.
“Oh, and when I set out there was a company of guards from one of the minor merchant houses who were asking a lot of questions in Atelang.” He wrinkled his brow and stroked the scar which bisected his right cheek thoughtfully.
“Seems the house has misplaced one of its family members. But they were strangely vague in their descriptions of their lost sheep. A teenager, that was all they were saying with certainty. They were giving out no real description, no name, nothing tangible one might need to find him.”