Telhari’s field of view was filled suddenly with the familiar marble halls of his ancestral home. Palisading columns of intricately carved stone flew overhead, polished so bright that one could gaze into them as they did a mirror, rising ever higher into a sparkling mist. The air was as he remembered it: crisp and refreshing, carrying the faintest fragrance of the garden plants which grew on the terraces of their mountain citadel. The glow of the afternoon sun was streaming into the main hall, belighting the stonework as if with a golden flame.

“You’ve come so soon?”

Telhari’s heart jumped at the sound of the familiar voice.

“Any time spent away from the citadel is truly agony, old friend.”

“Telhari…You should not be here.”

“Have father’s words swayed your heart as well? Do you still see me in such an unfavorable light after that day?”

“Do you remember, Telhari?”

He thought hard, but it was like trying to catch a petal on the wind. He would come so close to grasping it, only to have it move suddenly, and slip from his reach.

“I remember, I…”

“You should not be here.”

“How can you say such things? After what I sacrificed for you!?”

“You should not be here, Telhari.”

Telhari grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against the wall. He was about to speak when he heard a cry come suddenly from down the corridor. It was faint —like a voice on the wind— but he managed to make out one word.

Fire.

“There is no time to quarrel. We are needed.” Telhari turned and ran down the corridor. But as he did so, he heard only his own footsteps.

“What are you doing? We must hurry!”

“I cannot go.”

The cry came again, louder this time. Telhari could smell smoke.

“Come now! Enough of this foolishness. They need us!”

“They need you.”

“W-what do you mean?”

As the smell of smoke filled the corridor, Telhari began to feel a fire burn all around him. He could hear the crackling of wood— smoke burned at his eyes. There were screams of men and women in pain. He heard the clang of steel against steel. Telhari could hear the chanting of his brethren in the distance, followed by an explosion. The walls shook. Above him, the ceiling fractured with a terrible crack. Telhari looked up as the ancient stone began to topple down around him.

“Look out!”

Telhari jumped out of the way, grabbing his friend as he did, pulling them both from the impact. Together they landed hard on the ground. But when Telhari looked up, he was shocked by what he saw.

He was beset by hellish flame. Pillars of fire swirled like a storm, while their billowing clouds of black smoke rose high into the air. The flame swelled and whipped angrily at the tapestries that hung on the walls. He saw bodies around him, cut violently and burned.

“Come! We cannot stay here! We have to move!”

As Telhari turned to grab hold of his friend, he felt a weight drop in his stomach. The man was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. There were burn marks and several long, deep gashes across his body. His leg was crushed beneath stone rubble.

“No…no!”

He bent down and tried to think of what to do— but, not matter how hard he tried, he could think of nothing. No spell. No plan. No quick-witted solution. He could do nothing. Tears burned his cheeks as they fell.

“Don’t die…please…”

The man’s face softened as the color drained from him.

“I do not fear death, Telhari…”

The smoke was rising, and it was becoming harder to breathe.

“You must leave now, so that you may live.”

“I won’t leave you! Not to die alone in a place like this!”

“You must go. You should not be here.”

“Why won’t you forgive me!? Even now—”

“Leave, Telhari!”

Even over the roaring of the inferno, the screaming voices became louder and louder.

“FIRE!”

“Leave, Telhari.”

“I won’t!”

“Leave, now!”

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“Not until you explain yourself!”

“Put it out! Put it out!”

“I’m trying! Get the water!”

“Please, don’t do this…”

“You should not be here.”

“Hurry up, Mary!”

“Leave!”

Telhari shot up suddenly from the ground. He then felt a sharp pain across his chest that made him wince. He could hear a commotion— there was heat and the smell of smoke.

“Mary! He’s awake!”

Telhari’s head was throbbing and his whole body was sore. Sweat was pouring down his brow. He grasped the side of his face and turned to see what was going on.

There was certainly a fire.

It had escaped the bounds of its hearth and was growing out of control. Someone was beside the fire swatting it with a fallen tree branch: a young man with a familiar face. He caught Telhari’s gaze and called out to him.

“Do another magic thing!”

“Back away,” Telhari called out to him.

Ellis dropped the branch he was holding and dove behind the nearest tree.

Telhari held up his hand and bid the flames to shrink smaller and smaller, until eventually they were nothing more than a smoldering of embers. Ellis poked his head out from behind the tree.

“Huh. Thought you was gonna make it explode or something…”

“Why would I do such a thing?”

“I dunno how magic works. I just assume everythin’ explodes.”

My head is going to explode.

Telhari laid back down on his back and stared up into the canopy. It was late afternoon now, soon to be dusk.

“Where is your friend?”

“She’s just gone to get some—”

“I’m here Ellis! I got the…oh? You fixed it!?”

“No, Telhari did it.” Ellis pointed over to the heap of blankets in the corner of the clearing. “Guess he fell asleep again…”

“You woke him up!?”

“I woke him up?! Who was the one screaming her head off about the fire!?”

“Well what else was I supposed to do? Had to get your attention, didn’t I? Besides, you was the one who put the fire wood and kindling too close to the flame!”

“That…was an accident!”

“Just admit you was wrong.”

“No! And stop yelling! You’re gonna wake him up again.”

“I am not yelling!”

“I am not asleep.”

“See! He’s awake.”

Is this hell?

Telhari rolled away so his back was facing them. It had been a while since he was last hurt so badly. He wanted nothing more than to leave Malendar’s Edge as soon as possible, but the relief of not having to bear weight on his legs made even the dirt seem desirable. Although, the stench that hung around him was making him think twice.

Wait…

He recognized the smell. Telhari opened his eyes and stared down at his body. For the first time, he realized a neat lattice work of yellow flowers and leaves had been draped over him— the same ones used to make the antidote. He lifted the lattice gently in his hand and studied it.

“Oh, you like it?” Ellis asked. “Mary made it.”

“You did?”

“Yeah…” she admitted. “Those plants have something special in ‘em, right?”

“They do. But how did you know?”

Marybeth reached behind her and held up something— a necklace made of woven flowers.

“I saw them when we was heading up the mountain and I thought ‘Oh, these look nice!’, so I made a little necklace out of ‘em. Didn’t think nothin’ of it, until we met you in the cave and got chased by that thing. After you knocked out, Ellis was still frozen. I gave him my necklace for good luck and then he got better.”

Then Ellis chimed in.

“At first, we thought it was a miracle! But then we remembered you said something about poison. That was when Mary realized it.”

“When I was pickin’ the flowers, it looked like someone had already done some pickin’ of their own. While I was looking around, I found some weird stones. They was like the stones I’d seen in the old apothecaries, the one’s they use for making medicine.”

“So, we ground some of em up and mixed it with water from the stream. Tasted horrible…” Ellis added.

“But it made Ellis all the way better,” Mary continued. “Then we gave you some, but…Well, you didn’t wake up. So, we made some more of the flowers just in case, and decided we would keep watch until you came to.”

“That’s…amazing.”

They both brightened up.

“It is!?”

“Truly, I have to admit…I am shocked you managed to reason that all on your own.”

“Yes!” Ellis shouted. “Hear that, Mary!?”

The two clasped hands, grinning wide at one another. Telhari watched them out of the corner of his eye. He was fighting desperately to stay awake, but their excitement eased him more than he had expected.

“You know…” Ellis added. “Even though I wasn’t able to move ‘cause of the poison, I was still awake.” He paused for a moment, looking solemnly toward the ground. “You saved my life. Even though you almost lost yours...”

Telhari said nothing. Instead, he continued to look up at specs of blue sky that were visible through the tree cover. The crackling of the fire was the only sound between them for some time. Finally, Marybeth broke the silence.

“What should we do then? It’s almost nightfall. Should we head back?”

Telhari looked down at the flowers draped over his body.

“If I can trust you two to keep watch for one more night, I think we will be fine.”

“Right then!” Ellis said with a grin. “Mary, let’s find some more fire wood.” The two eagerly jumped to their feet and began to head back into the forest.

“Also…”

“Hmm?”

Telhari shifted uncomfortably beneath the blankets.

“Thank you both. Without your efforts, I would likely be dead…” He stopped to take a deep breath. “And you stayed with me, when you could have left and made a run for Edge by yourselves. Instead, you chose to stay. That was very kind.”

The two exchanged glances.

“You know…” Marybeth said, “We met a man once who said that no one rewards good will. He said that the world was just an ugly, bloody place.”

“But that guy was a jerk,” Ellis added. “So, we had to prove him wrong.”

As he lay there on the forest floor, tired and in pain, Telhari was overcome by an emotion he had not felt in decades. Suddenly, he began to laugh. Though, it was not with an air of mean spiritedness or sarcasm. It was a hearty, involuntary sort of laughter. The kind that starts as a warm feeling in your gut and moves up your body until, before you know it, your smiling wide and your spirit feels just a little bit lighter. He laughed to himself, to Ellis, to Marybeth, to everyone, and to no one.

Yeah, he thought, It’ll be alright...

Telhari drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. His muscles relaxed one at a time until he felt like his body had melted into the earth. He was calm. Content. At once, his eyes felt heavy; and as they closed, he could feel himself drifting once again.

They will be safe for one night. I trust them.

Then, Telhari fell asleep. And for the first of countless nights, he slept peacefully. There were no dreams of fire, nor were there dreams of pain or loss. Instead, Telhari slept soundly through the night, protected and watched over by the two unlikely companions he had met in a tavern.