Orenda didn’t understand why they were going underground to go up the mountain. It seemed counterintuitive. Once the darkness of the cave settled around them, Gareth hopped up front with Falsie and they began to speak in a language that Orenda could not understand. Occasionally Bella would say something to liven up the conversation, but she still seemed tired and starving, so her attention was much more focused on the constant snacking she had been doing since she awoke. As they drove into the darkness she didn’t flip her eyepatch, which seemed strange to Orenda.

“I can’t see in the dark, either,” Anilla said to Bella as Bella ate fruit jerky by the handful, “Maybe I should wear an eyepatch.”

“I do it out of habit, mostly,” Bella shrugged, “I hope I didn’t scare you last night.”

“I love dogs!” Anilla announced happily, “You must have loved it back home, where you could run through the snow. I can’t believe the others were so mean to you- you’re so big and strong you would have been useful to the village! You brought back more food than we can eat.”

“I don’t know,” Orenda disagreed, “She’s going through it pretty fast. Are you alright, Aunt Bella?”

“Xac, you know, the ‘white rabbit’, he doesn’t… he’s the only shifter I’ve ever met who can just do it. He can control it. And he remembers it. I asked him how he learned to do that- I didn’t think it was possible- and he told me that when he was young it was ‘beaten into him’. He said that you would be amazed to find what you could do to avoid pain or death. He was right. Still… I wish I could control it.” She said as if that answered the question, though it very clearly did not.

“Everyone,” Gareth stuck his head between the burlap and pulled up his mask to speak to them, “Here’s the plan. We don’t know if Falsie’s mother’s old shop is still here- the last time we were here was a good two decades ago and it was in bad shape then, so… if it’s not and we can’t get that armor, the three of you are going to have to stay here. Rendy and I will have to go alone. That place… it isn’t safe.”

“I’ll be fine, Gary,” Bella rolled her eyes.

“You won’t be fine, you’ll be in constant pain, but you’ll heal. That’s how it was last time. Anilla will probably burst into flames and die. Falsie… we have no way of knowing whether or not he’ll survive. It… it wasn’t just the eruption. The land there is angry, since the night everything went to hell. They say the spirit died. I don’t know what happened but it’s too hot for you.”

“Wait, we’re going looting?” Orenda asked, “is that a good idea? With a war on? Wouldn’t the army of Huriyat AlIinsan have to march through here from what you’ve told me?”

“I don’t think I ever claimed it was a good idea,” Gareth sounded insulted, “I said it was what we were going to do.”

“Wonderful,” Orenda said with as much sarcasm as she could muster.

“Don’t be negative, Rendy, it isn’t a good trait,” He smirked, “My point is, everyone be cool. We don’t want to draw a lot of attention to ourselves.” He pulled his mask down and disappeared through the fabric.

“Captain Nochdifache!” A voice that sounded important rang out, so everyone inside the wagon pushed themselves forward to look out past the drivers.

A huge gate was barred tight with a lock the likes of which Orenda had never seen. The entire thing was made of metal, and the bar that ran across the middle seemed to be held in place by some sort of clockwork mechanism. The gate was guarded on either side by a dwarf in impressive armor, and the wall on either side of the gate was apparently thick enough to be considered a room, because two additional guards peered out the windows. Orenda saw that each of them held a mage staff with the biggest fire crystals she had ever seen. They looked like real staves, like the one Tolith had inherited from his father, used by real fire mages.

If there were dwarven fire mages, why did Felearn and the other earth elves act as if the art had died away? They traded with dwarves. Surely they knew… but they didn’t. Somehow they didn’t.

Orenda knew that earth elves didn’t travel this far up the Sacred Mountains; she could feel the fire magic in the air, cracking around her, so she knew that being here would feel to them like being on the ocean had felt to her. But she couldn’t imagine that they interacted with the dwarves and it never came up.

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The people of Henoluhur apparently knew Gareth on sight, and were all aiming their weapons at him. He seemed as alarmed by this as anyone else.

“What?” He asked, and a dwarven warrior stepped forward.

“No elves have entered Henoluhur since the Urillian colonization,” The warrior announced, “Your kind is not welcome here.”

“Bullshit!” Gareth stood with one foot on the dashboard and spoke loudly, “I’ve been here since the colonization! I took refuge here! I have traveled to Huriyat Allinsan! I am a Knight of Order!”

“Elves are not welcome in Henoluhur,” The warrior said.

“I am!” Gareth argued, “You know what, fuck it, I want to speak to the high council!”

“What happened to not calling attention to ourselves?” Orenda asked.

“What part of ‘fuck it’ was difficult to understand?” Gareth asked.

“We won’t harbor a known pirate,” The warrior announced.

“I got this,” Falsie said, and more loudly continued, “I am Harold Hillheart the lesser, son of Helga Hillheart the traitor. I have come to restore honor to my family. I have with me the Chosen Child of Thesis, come to take the sacred staff from the sacred flame. And this man here is not some dread pirate- I travel with-”

“Don’t do it,” Gareth said.

“I travel with-”

“The Emerald Knight is after me!”

“I travel with Gareth Firefist, son of Orenda Firefist, high priest of the Sacred Mountain Temple.”

“I’ve never heard that name in my life,” Gareth argued.

“Harold Hillheart?” The warrior asked, and turned to address the guards, “Send a courier. Tell them Harold Hillheart the younger has returned and demands to speak to the council. Tell them he claims Gareth Firefist is with him, and the Chosen Child of Thesis!”

“And also a human and a halfling,” Falsie called, “I mean if they’re setting out places at a table or what have you and need to know how much food to order.”

“I hate you!” Gareth hissed as he sat down heavily with his arms crossed.

“Well, we had to do it eventually,” Falsie shrugged.

“You didn’t even ask me!” Gareth argued.

“Gary they’re already on the Knight’s bad side,” Falsie argued, “It can’t get worse.”

“Orenda doesn’t need an entire city rallying around her,” Gareth’s voice was low, but Orenda caught it nonetheless, “She doesn’t need to get her hopes up. That staff isn’t coming out of that fire. It’s never going to happen. If we have a lot of people cheering for us, as I suspect is your plan, it’s going to be a lot of disappointment for a lot of people in a time where no one needs false hope. This is all going to hell in a handbasket.”

“Well,” Falsie shrugged, “I ain’t afraid of the devil. What the hell’s he gonna do that ain’t already been done to us?”

“Gareth,” Orenda said, because she was tired of being left out of the conversation, “I know that you’re determined to be contrary, but I am going to get that staff. It’s going to happen. And even if it doesn’t, I’ll figure something else out. Either way, I’m going to kill the Emerald Knight. Anything that lives can be killed. The books are wrong. The research I’ve done has been wrong about him. He can’t be immortal, because he is alive.”

“Your mother tried everything,” Gareth told her, “She went to Morgani Magnus himself to try to find a way to kill the Emerald Knight.”

“I’ve spoken to Magnus myself,” Orenda said more out of spite than a desire to convey any actual information, “I didn’t know who he was talking about at the time, but he apparently knew my parents. The only thing that I can remember him saying in particular is that ‘Ronnie was a fool’, a sentiment that you seem to share.”

“And if you go up against the Emerald Knight, you’re just like him!” Gareth snapped as he turned to face her, “Stop chasing danger! We need to stay alive! We’re all that’s left! We’re good right here!”

“Hillheart!”

There was a loud clacking of metal on metal as the gears in the lock began to turn, and the gate split down the middle. It opened to reveal another contingent of guards, lined up in three rows and staring as if they had been expecting them.

“You will be escorted to meet with the high council,” The warrior continued, addressing Falsie, “To discuss your plan, and to determine what is to be done with you.”