From
upstairs the sounds of the others starting to stir as they woke had
begun to drift down to the common room. One by one the collection
of "truly fascinating people" began to make their way to
breakfast. As each arrived, Sadie came out from the kitchen and
took their order.
When
Jerrod arrived, he was astonished at the variety of the repast which
Fran and his family had to offer. Not only was there fresh, piping
hot porridge and the remnants of the offerings from the night before,
but there was fresh fruit as well as fresh bread. There were
sausages and griddle cakes and even hen's eggs. The bread was the
one item on the bill of fare that Jerrod found particularly
astonishing. It was still warm as if it had just come out of the
oven. But for that to be so, since the loaves seemed fresh, the
innkeeper or his wife had to have been up early enough to prepare and
bake the bread by the crack of dawn. Such service was went beyond
the efforts of most inns and struck Jerrod as beyond the call of
duty.
Still,
it was welcome excess. Jerrod found the distraction of a good
hearty meal welcome after the troubled night which he had spent. He
couldn't remember all of the details of his dreams, but what he did
remember disturbed him just as much now in the light of day as the
dreams themselves had troubled his sleep the night before. There
was something about a cave...on an island...in a cloud. It just
didn't make sense to Jerrod.
"Maybe,"
he thought to himself, "Astall can shed some light on their
import. Perhaps it has something to do with the islands he
mentioned last night. There could certainly be an island with a cave
on it. And perhaps the mention of the islands last night triggered
the dream, but why would the dream place the island on a cloud.
“Where
could Astall be, though? He usually is up before me, shaking me out
of bed and demanding that I provide him with a meal to break his
fast. Perhaps he has eaten already. But then why wouldn't he wait
here in the common room? We must all have much more to discuss
about this quest of his or rather ours. It isn't like him to
disappear."
Just
as Jerrod began to worry about the whereabouts of his former master,
that worthy appeared at the entry to the common room.
"Good
morn, my friends. It is good to see you all up and about. We have
much to consider and little time in which to do so ere you must leave
on your perilous journey. I see you are all stoking the body's
furnace already. I hope you don't mind if I outline a bit more of
the information which you will need to undertake your endeavor while
you enjoy your repasts."
"As
I said last night, we believe that the Sword of Might may have been
lost in the Islands of Despair. I have booked passage for the seven
of you on a merchant ship which will leave from the port of Nova
Ekirigilio in a week's time." Seeing the looks of surprise and
mild consternation on the faces of one or two of the seven members of
his audience, Astall paused in his discourse. "I know that
that does not give you much time and, yes, you must leave here today,
but the sooner you get started the more quickly we, or rather you,
can break the grip of the frost which is strangling the life out of
Seremoreh. The longer the frigid weather lasts, the more permanent
the damage that will be done to the land and its denizens, both
animal and human. It must be halted as soon as possible."
"As
I was saying, you are booked to leave Nova Ekirigilio in a week.
From there you will sail to Salato Insulo. After that you will need
to find a way to the Islands of Despair on your own. In order to
make your ship, you must, of course, leave today. That leaves you
little time to collect your things and to prepare for a journey which
will be increasingly dangerous as the trollkin become more active.
Before you go, there is one more bit of information which I need to
share with you. A mystic sage in the society has sent word that she
has had dreams about a tunnel filled with smoke or vapor of some sort
that somehow seems connected with the Sword of Might. She can say
no more than that. While it seems of little obvious value to me
now, perhaps its import will become clearer to you in time."
"In
the mean time, you must gather your belongings and arrange for your
trip from Pond Eddy to Nova Ekirigilio. How you get there is your
own affair. The purse strings of the Society of Mages are yours to
command, whatever you need shall be paid for no matter how apparently
extravagant. We trust your judgment, though with a lesser group
that might perhaps be unwise. Even so, the same provision would
hold, for should your group fail, then all should be lost. So buy
whatever you feel you need. But buy it quickly for there is little
time."
With
that the old archmage sat down and began to set to his breakfast with
a vengeance. The eight heroes looked at each other. Little seemed
necessary to say. Astall's words had made their situation
abundantly clear.
As
they sat in silence and finished breaking their fast, the companions
each contemplated what lay before them. Most of them, experienced
adventurers as they were, considered the practical aspects of their
journey. Each made a list of all of the things that he or she might
need to complete their quest. Knowing someone else was paying for
whatever they desired made it easier to contemplate even their
wildest wishes. As more than one thought to him or herself, one
never knew when one might need something and there might be no chance
to get it later. On the other hand, speed was of the essence and the
more one carried the slower one moved.
So...each
made his or her list and then pared it down to those items that
seemed most necessary. Of those, they would buy only the best.
Something failing at a critical time might cost all of them their
lives, and it appeared that with them lay the fate of Seremoreh.
Only the best would serve with so much riding on their success.
Some
of the companionship, the more contemplative among them (of which
Jerrod was certainly not yet one), also pondered the implications of
the journey about which they were preparing to embark. While each
had had the lives of others in her or his hands at some point in the
past, none had ever had the fate of the world resting on her or his
shoulders. The enormity of the task was nearly overwhelming.
Two
of the companions seemed unfazed by what lay ahead. For different
reasons, Urki and Jerrod both found themselves doing little of the
contemplation that seemed to engulf the others. Urki was by nature
someone who saw his task and accepted it without fretting. He saw
little point in worrying over whether or not he could survive what
lay ahead. Time would provide the answer to that. As far as he
was concerned, the only thing really worth doing before one set out
on a adventure or any other journey for that matter was preparing
oneself as well as one could for the practical challenges that one
would face and making sure one enjoyed life to the fullest when one
could. The rest was just gilding on the lily. There was little
point and little value. It was best to direct one's energies where
they would do the most good, and that didn't mean driving oneself
crazy about the unknowable and/or the unchangeable.
Jerrod,
on the other hand, simply had no real conception of the enormity of
the task with which he was faced. In his heart of hearts, Jerrod
didn't really believe that he was truly one of the keys to the fate
of Seremoreh and all of its inhabitants. While to the others he
might seem a bit self-important and pompous -- and, in fact, he was
both of those things -- that was really his way of hiding from
himself a fundamental, deep-seated sense of self-doubt.
Deep
down, perhaps even below conscious thought, Jerrod found it hard to
believe that he was really an important part of a group like this.
The others could indeed be that important. Ordolf was, according to
Astall, as accomplished in the arcane arts as was Astall himself and
a powerful member of the Society of Mages. Wolf and Brianna were
clearly singular people who had been through more than Jerrod himself
had ever even dreamed of facing. Derazha was so fearsome that he
could hardly envision himself riding side by side with her, let alone
defeating an opponent that could best her. Neun Ja was the kind of
woman he had dreamed about. Her beauty was overwhelming. Whenever
he was near her, or even thought about her, his stomach fluttered and
his mouth got dry. He lost his ability to speak or even think. On
top of that, she was apparently a powerful sorceress and assassin.
Of all of his companions only Enki and Urki seemed as if they were
less than heroic. And even they had handled him as if he were little
more than an unweaned lamb.
So,
in his innermost depths Jerrod fundamentally believed that, while
this was perhaps a dangerous journey which would have important
connotations for the rest of Seremoreh, he would have little to do
with its success or failure. Perhaps he was being included as a
final test before he graduated to journeyman status. He had heard
of such tests. The sooner the journey was over, the sooner his
majority would come to pass. As a result, perhaps surprisingly
given all of that percolating below and through his consciousness or
perhaps not, Jerrod simply appeared impatient for the journey to
begin. There was no apparent fear. There was no reflection, no
thoughtful preparation.
That
would soon change.
