Chapter 5 (conclusion)

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.