The party had been walking for a day and a half since crawling up from the dirt. What lived beneath their feet seemed to scratch at their heels and beckon them to visit once again. A world beneath a world and one could only imagine the horrors that lurk in the depths, beyond the evils of the wendigo, perhaps beyond the influence of Irin-Mirith. For that foul creature only sprawled its wretched tendrils out to the edges of one forest.

“Do you think the botanist will come?” Irida walked beside Gin-rith up front while Kaleb walked with the buck, ensuring the Dwarf atop its back didn’t slip off.

“It is hard to say, the spirit of the wood has darkened the hearts of many of our kin, even mine. You recall the greeting I offered you.”

Iridia helped Gin-rith up a steep incline as they spoke. “It’s understandable, the outside world has fallen into darkness it seems. I was ignorant of it up until a few weeks ago.”

Gin-rith grunted as he struggled up the hill, his legs were shaky and his grip was weak. He continued onward still. “I am sorry we met in such circumstances, we should be having feasts and celebrating the new harvest of the woods at this time.”

“I am sorry too.” Iridia looked back at Kaleb, “You have been quiet, master…”

“Indeed,” Kaleb spoke darkly.

“Does Flencer’s ailment weigh on you?”

“No, he will live or die, all we can do is our best to help his cause and then be happy with that, I have prayed and made an oath that I will do what I can and no more.”

Iridia raised her eyebrows. “Glad to see you’re not attached…what bothers you then, if that isn’t a big secret, I know you like your secrets,” Iridia spoke with less conviction and more sarcasm. Her mood had sunk and her heart felt heavy. She was usually the quiet one but she found driving conversation a helpful tool.

“Something Gin-rith spoke of back in the camp weighs on me.”

Gin-rith glanced back, “I am sorry to have laid something on you.”

“You did a service for me,” Kaleb looked around the forest, taking in the gloomy depths; confident that Gin-rith had come upon an old path he knew would take them to their destination. Yet anxious at what waited for them there.

“Do tell, I am in suspense,” Gin-rith smiled warmly at Iridia, sensing her need for uplifting discussion and attempting to soothe with banter he had been perfecting since he started this journey with them.

“You spoke about the emperor and that an army should travel with this sword.”

“Indeed, it is valuable.”

“Yet, the emperor seems to think not, or he is not aware, and he is not aware because he is under the control of the demon.”

Gin-rith remained quiet in thought for at least a minute, Kaleb did not push for a response for he was patient when discussions that held such grave consequences were at hand. Iridia in all her youth knew little of the emperor, only that he was the greatest general of the armies and the commander of the Paladins. It wasn’t like the average Paladin had a regular chat with him, most hadn’t met him. “What would that mean to you, Kaleb?” Gin-rith answered the silence with a probing question.

Kaleb took a similar time to respond, “It would mean I’ll have an extra man to kill,” he rubbed his face. “It would mean that we are more alone than we imagined, for his armies and the empire itself are against us.”

“Does that seem plausible?”

“Yes, this quest was given to me by the council to get rid of me.”

Iridia frowned, “Why would they send you the sword?”

“They didn’t, or at least all of them did not…” Kaleb thought, “Some know and have used my journey as an opportunity.”

Iridia looked back at Kaleb.

“When we return…if…Angelspree may not be the same place it once was. We can trust no man of the Empire. We rely on those not connected to the divine heart, the Half-Elves and Elves…”

Iridia paused, “Orcs?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

Gin-rith let out a croaky laugh, “Orcs aren’t all bad, we’ll need to sail to the Elves, Orcs are good sailors.”

Kaleb sighed, “A sheet on a plank, far from impressed.”

Gin-rith raised a finger, “Harder than it looks.”

“They do it drunk.”

Iridia looked around. It had gone oddly quiet again, “Are you sure this is the right way, Ginny?” Concern was drawn on her face, “It’s gone quiet.”

“I am as sure as I can be, the river we found is one I know well. If we follow it north we will come out of the tree line not far from the road that runs through the wood.”

“Why not just go to the road?”

“We’d have to cross the river, I know of no bridges nearby. There is one further along, and we’ll find the well Temple of Al-Ridith there. It’s quite easy to see, even though it is now ruined.”

“Why is it ruined?” Asked Iridia.

“Paladins destroyed it, heresy and such,” Gin-rith spoke with no bitterness but instead with an accepting matter-of-fact tone, perhaps not wanting to start a debate with the warrior following behind.

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Kaleb remained silent.

Gin-rith attempted to break the awkwardness his answer had summoned, “So you know the way to the Elves? I only know we have to cross the great waters.”

“Our shield does.”

“Your shield?”

The Hammer of Zale glowed and called from behind, “He knows nothing.”

Iridia’s shield piped up from her back, “Nonsense, I know the way, I’ll get you there.”

“You better, else my little quest to free you is out of the window.” Iridia almost wished that would be the case, surely someone from Port Farlow would know the way and free her of this burden.

“Why do your people wish to bind themselves to items?”

Kaleb chuckled, “Because they would bore the spirits they joined into a deeper slumber.”

Zale hummed with an incensed redness and became hot to the touch, “Befoulery, Kaleb would long for a soul-binding, but it is reserved for only those who have great wisdom and knowledge to pass on when one is indispensable to the waking world. It is only for those who can make the greatest sacrifice.”

“Much like that irritating bard stuck in the shield?” Kaleb chuckled, his spirits seemed to have risen, and Iridia had inspired a little kick in the party's steps. Though they might not have noticed her achievement, inspiration often comes from the quiet corners of the world.

“He was a mistake, a blotch.”

“He at least knows the way to the Elves,” Kaleb retorted with a gleeful skip in his step, enjoying the hammer heating his hand as a tremendous fury burned through it. Usually, Zale would not become so vexed at mere words, but the fact he had been broken got his goat.

Flencer reminded them that things were not all swell, not with his usual banter but with a gasp for air. Kaleb stopped and tended to him before looking up at Gin-rith with eyes that demanded urgency.

Gin-rith trotted over, using his withered staff as support, he was lightly limping now from the wear and tear upon the soles of his feet. He inspected Flencer carefully and shook his head. “Murder root is taking hold of his body,”

“I still think we should give him water.”

“No!” Gin-rith shot Kaleb a glare, “I told you once, if you give him water the root will sprout and tear him to pieces. You must not give him water no matter how tempting.” He looked back to Flencer, his tongue was green like his eyes and he was sucking in air quickly.

“Is there anything you can do for him?”

“Nothing. The botanists, if any have received my message and decided to arrive, will have a medicine that may help. Until then we must keep moving to the edge of the forest.”

Kaleb agreed with the course of action but another question roused within, one he had let sleep for too long: “What is your plan when we get to the edge? Irin-Mirith will rise from the ground and demand the seed will he not?”

“You do not wish to offer him the seed, yes?”

“I do not.”

Gin-rith nodded, “You are a loyal companion, you save the heartbreak of the Dwarf and give him the death he desires. You also protect the torment of the Elf within that seed.”

“What is your plan?”

Gin-rith rubbed his face, “I will not say the plan for I do not know what listens, but I assure you…” He looked around and gave Kaleb a wink, “Irin-Mirith will get its seed.”

“Very well, Half-Elf.” He offered that flat, sour smile of his in return.

***

The party trudged on for another couple of miles or perhaps three. Gin-rith had slowed and gone quiet, tiredness taking his body, but the coming of the forest edge sent a burst of energy through his bones. “We are close.” It was the liveliest he had spoken in some time.

Kaleb and Iridia had not noticed so much, but Gin-rith hadn’t sung his words for some time, and when he spoke just then, a light melody danced from the tip of his tongue. This gladdened their hearts and shared with them his renewed pep.

“Quickly then, we make a charge, let us beat this Irin-Mirith.” Kaleb jogged quickly, reigns in hand. Iridia moved to the side of the buck to help keep Flencer balanced. They passed Gin-rith who couldn’t quite run.

Their hearts were filled with excitement. As they passed through trees they saw the glint of clear planes in the distance. The edge of the forest was in sight; not far now and they would be clear of the nightmare.

Iridia dropped back to link arms with Gin-rith, helping him traverse the unsteady path.

“Pick him up, girl!”

Iridia nodded and crouched before Gin-rith, lifting him on her shoulders. He was heavier than she had expected. When she moved the wagon back at the imperial camp it was nothing to her. “Nngh, I feel my strength is not with me.”

Kaleb looked back and laughed, “Incredible strength will not be with you always. It is granted to you at the discretion of the Divine heart, use it wisely if you are gifted.”

She grunted, “You had me use it to move the wagon!”

“Residual effects, may as well use them too!”

Even without the blessing of the Divine Heart Iridia had still unlocked a power within when she came into first contact, making her able to commit to feats of strength a lass of her size might normally not conquer.

“Run now!” Kaleb sprinted. They were seconds away from the edge.

“My seed!” The brooding voice of Irin-Mirith gurgled up through the blood-soaked soil. Before Kaleb a great thorny bracken rose that would take a thousand calvary men wielding scythes blessed by the divine, a year to hack through. “What is this?”

“Irin-Mirith will take us to the beginning of the forest again if we do not comply with the promise of the seed,” Gin-rith called from Iridia’s shoulder.

Iridia caught up to Kaleb and stopped beside him, lowering Gin-rith to his feet and dusting her hands. “What now then?”

Gin-rith walked before the Paladins and raised his hands, “I have your seed!”

Kaleb and Iridia looked at each other with great worry.

“Then you will give it to me.”

Gin-rith looked back at them both and nodded. “You will lower the bracken and let my friends go.”

“Show me the seed.”

“Not possible.”

“Why is that?”

“It is inside me.”

Roots coiled up around and caught Gin-rith. “Then I shall tear you in half and take it, I shall swallow you whole and absorb it!”

“Ready yourselves, friends.” Gin-rith sang it loud.

Kaleb turned his back and faced the bracken, Iridia did the same but with a question upon her face.

“What are we doing?”

“Get ready to run.”

“Behold, I will present you the seed.” Gin-rith coughed a few times into his hand, the only one he could raise to his mouth as the other was bound to his side by a painful vine. On his palm landed a ruby orb.

The forest breathed with desire and the bracken rumbled, faded and then withered. Irin-Mirith was quelled. Kaleb took the reigns in one hand and Iridia in the other, charging out of the forest over the crunchy remnants of the thorny wall that blew away like cinders. They reached the lush grass where Irin-Mirith’s reach ended. It was a perfect line that ran down the landscape as if drawn by an artist with the black ink of his quill. They turned and watched as Gin-rith was held aloft.

“Be well!” He sang.

Irin-Mirith roared with fury. Gin-rith’s trick was complete, the seed merely an old gem from his bracelet. In its uncontrollable lust, it let its guard down for a fraction of a second. The party’s trust in his plan allowed them to flee just in time. Gin-rith was torn in two and the bracken walls raised once more in vain, for they would not trap the Paladins.

Iridia fell onto Kaleb and she was embraced. Tears streamed down her cheeks for her friend. He gave his life for theirs and Flencer’s. They both knew not to waste such a gift.