She reached Wellspring at last! Ruyo came with Lisette and Elly, Virid, the two spirits, and the six former slaves. With four horses, the groom would have some work worth paying for.

It was sunset. Smoke coiled from a chimney that hadn't been there before. Now, Wellspring had a simple pair of low huts roofed with cloth and sticks. The three-walled smithy with its chimney was also the workshop, holding a contraption that must have been the new printing press. Somebody with earth powers had raised a low stone wall as the outline of a modest new building. A cloth canopy made it a makeshift tent for now.

Grunting and splashing from around a corner of the smithy caught her attention. One of the three guards she'd left behind in this place, Hastro, was holding tongs that clutched a block of wet metal. He set it down on a crude workbench and said, "Finally! How did it go?"

Nusina appeared. "Very well, thanks!"

Ruyo said, "She's back, we took down the worst of the cultists, there's going to be another temple in Starshore, and these six newcomers are people I want to find jobs for." More quietly she added, "Before that becomes a problem."

"Gotcha. Hey, Lise, did you and your sister find any loot this time?"

Lisette grinned and hugged him. "We got plans for some ancient gadgets."

"So apparently I'm our main smith now. We could use a full-time charcoal burner and more construction and woodcutting. The horses could help with that! Looks like you need a stable."

The monk from Brotherhood walked out from the enchanted cave. "I thought I felt something. Good to see you, ma'am. And miss Nusina! Safe and sound, I hope."

Ruyo nodded and gave him the summary, too. "Where are the explorers? And did you get the note I sent by magic?"

"I did! That will certainly be a useful power. Can you communicate with Brotherhood that way, too?"

"Yes. After my next visit there, all three should be linked both ways."

The monk pointed off to the north side of the road. There on a bit of relatively high ground stood a camp of three fine tents of green cloth, one of them a tall pavilion. "The explorers have been here for days. Right now they're in the cave but they haven't hurt anything."

Ruyo said, "I need to go deal with that. So they're westlanders and the leader's sore that he didn't find the place first?"

"And he wants to see the lower level."

Ruyo nodded and said to her traveling companions, "Take a break." She told Hastro and the monk, "Also I can grant a third level of magic now, so remind me."

#

The cave entrance loomed just uphill behind a crude wooden door. Elly was following her, saying, "Just in case of trouble."

Ruyo frowned. There probably wouldn't be any. Even so, she summoned up a single Quill to scuttle along at her feet. She walked in and called out, "Hello?"

The sanctum, the most advanced temple of Ruyo, was an ancient cave ruin whose walls rippled with blue-tinged light. A trio of men stood by the damaged mural of the old water god, dressed in bandoleers full of tools. They looked to be a father and his sons.

The father sported an impressive mustache and was wearing a broad-brimmed hat indoors. He said, "You? You're the one who took over this place?"

"Sir!" said one of the younger, leaner men, spotting Nusina and the Quill elemental.

His attention snapped toward them. "Also worth studying."

Ruyo said, "I'm Ruyo, and this is my home. What are you doing here?"

"This place is a monument, girl! A treasure of the Lost World. And I can't get through that." He pointed toward the hidden door.

Nusina spoke up. "Indeed you can't. Hail to Ruyo, the Lady of Waters. You stand in the Faithful Wellspring, high sanctum of --"

"Yes, yes, I've been told."

Ruyo said, "This is Nusina, and the young woman here is Elly of Brotherhood. What are you hoping to accomplish here?"

The father glanced aside. "At this point, learning. Knowledge is power."

"I'm able to grant some access to magic, if that interests you. But you probably know that too."

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One of the sons said, "I know a little. Some earth, a little fire. But water would be nice."

The other looked a bit older but otherwise almost the same, stocky and dressed for a long camping trip. "We're just scholars, ma'am. Our father has charted ruins before, looking for treasure."

"Maybe we can compare notes," Ruyo said.

Nusina whispered, "I suggest not mentioning the hospital until you decide whether they can tag along, and claim a share."

The father said, "First, show me what's down in that basement."

Ruyo's eyes narrowed. "Only one word of power can get me to agree."

"Is this some test of knowledge? I know more about the ancient mysteries than you."

The younger son said, "Please?"

Ruyo turned toward him. "Yes. You clearly have some skills that not everyone shares." She opened the back wall with a wave of her hand and said, "To reach the depths, all visitors must face a test of courage. I call it... The Droplet of Terror."

Nusina's eyes glittered with mischief. "Right this way, sirs! Down the stairs and watch that last step!"

Elly murmured to Ruyo, "They should leave those toolbelts. Want me to go down there and watch?"

"Yes, please." She called out, "Gentlemen, please leave those tools and any weapons, for everyone's safety. And anything that'd be damaged by water."

The father objected but his sons got him to agree. Elly led the way to the "elevator" that consisted of Nusina engulfing each person in a ball of water and carrying them down the wall. Ruyo wasn't sure she'd ever get used to it. They went out of sight as Elly was saying, "Please keep your arms and legs inside the mystery orb at all times."

That trip left Ruyo alone in the cave. Her bed had been hauled into a side room. She had forgotten she had side rooms here. The original rectangular space had been worked over by magic and carving, hollowing out two side wings that each had space for a modest bedroom. With minimal effort she extended the cave's adjustable glow to light each of these as well. Making more furniture would be a nice mundane project for the next few days. She snorted when she looked into the second room. Next to a crude desk sat a cool ancient office chair that one of her guards, Khulis, had liberated from the hospital ruins. With padded armrests.

Back in the central room she crouched to inspect the mosaic of waves and clouds, fish and boats on the floor. Then the walls. Their cracked and diminished beauty was as intact as when she'd first found the place. She could understand this new explorer being spiteful about missing out. Ruyo was a goddess largely by chance, and trying to be worthy of it after the fact.

She grabbed a cushion someone had sewn and sat on the floor. "Everything all right down there, Nusina?"

"Talking with them now. May I share what I know of the inscriptions and technology?"

"Go ahead." She had gotten to confer over the last few days with the others, about the bits of Lost World language they'd been piecing together.

A little while later, a heavy voice boomed from the cave entrance. "I am Tamur, here to serve. May I enter?"

Ruyo scrambled to her feet. "Yes, come in."

The scarred man from the church at Averell walked in, showing his open hands. "I come in peace. Is there food?"

"Of course. Here, let me..." She went over to the table and conjured up several loaves.

The monk hustled in from the tunnel too. "I'm sorry, Lady. I would have stopped him but I like my spine intact."

The man only grunted and began eating at the table. Ruyo grabbed a spare jug and filled it with cold water, which he took without comment.

The monk said, "If he's not bothering you, then good. How did the meeting go?"

"With the explorers? I'm at least letting them study the place. That will have to satisfy them. Please don't have anybody mention the hospital until I've had time to check it out again."

"All right. I'll spread the word, though those three might already know of the place. And that third initiation, please?"

"Right. Give me your hands."

She let the new and deeper channel of magic expand in his soul, shivering at the sense of connection that it gave her. She explained what the improvement would likely do to improve his spellcraft.

"Thank you, Lady. You should consider asking for offerings, since it costs you some power."

"Not very much." She considered the small miracle she'd worked. "But it was harder than the first two, yes. I'll have to talk with Nusina about that. Free to you, the sisters and the guardsmen, but don't send anyone else in tonight for that. I need to hand out more food and cloth to expand the camp."

Tamur, the scarred man, finished off his third portion of bread and looked over his shoulder at them. "Will you give me magic, too?"

"I can start you off, but only if you've prayed. Have you?"

"Not yet." He stood from the table's bench, then knelt on the ancient tiles in front of Ruyo. "I pledge to serve you until fate calls me elsewhere. Please give me more power to survive and fight, and I will fight for you." He thumped his chest.

The flavor of the prayer was primal, simple, and entirely sincere. She had felt worse. He might not be a permanent ally but she'd be glad to have him along and not against her. "Rise," she said, "and hold out your hands."

She gave him the first phase of the Sorcerous Initiation, and explained how to use it to shape water. Like most people he took to it quickly, and he grunted in satisfaction. Ruyo explained, "Come back tomorrow and I'll give you the power to create light and water."

"Thank you. Where should I sleep?"

"Outside, tonight. I'll help make more tents over the next few days."

"Good." He walked out.

The monk said, "Have you had any insight about our larger problem?"

"Just a traveler's tales about Fourwinds in the tropical north. I'll tell you what little I got from that later." She was thinking of the dolphin trainer, who hadn't said anything directly useful. "But I've got more magic and I think the Inheritors' cult is going to work with us now. Nusina can tell you more about them."

"Four good shrines and two small ones. That's a substantial web you're weaving. Would you be willing to test having a lesser shrine destroyed, to see the effects?"

She frowned, but thought about it. "It's bound to happen sooner or later. Handling it would be practice for me, too. Which one?"

"We could build a new one at a site like Baris' cabin."

"Someone would have to be a designated priest and go through the trouble of setting it up. How is Baris doing?"

"He seems happy, like any newlywed should. I expect him to visit tomorrow on his rounds."

Ruyo nodded and yawned. "I need to crank out more supplies for the newcomers before bed. Excuse me. Oh, and thanks for digging out the walls."

He nodded, hesitated, then said, "I was meaning to ask about your hands."

She looked at them again. "An experiment. Not sure if I'm going to keep this change or take it farther."