CHAPTER 42: BEFORE YOU LEAVE

On their last evening in Greenheart the party was invited for supper by the council, similarly to when they first arrived here.

The sight of the dining hall and the Elders was familiar, but not quite identical - Lydia and Vinifer swapped places, while Trent’s seat was taken by a middle aged man with long black hair and serene expression.

"Welcome!" Lydia said. "Please take a seat, the food will be here momentarily, but we have much to discuss."

When they were all seated, Lydia spoke up again:

"First off, as you can probably see I have made some changes to the council, and I would like to address them." She motioned to her right, where the Greenheart’s resident barrier master sat. "I have made Alara a member of the circle, and therefore an official Elder."

"Congratulations." Isara smiled at her mentor.

Alara didn’t reply, but instead nodded and smiled at her.

"Next up, we have a new addition to the council - Elder Karii." Lydia continued.

The unfamiliar Elder stood up, and bowed to the party.

"It’s a pleasure to meet you all, I hope I will be a more positive influence on the circle than my predecessor."

"That won’t be particularly difficult." Baor snorted.

Ignoring her brother, Lydia changed the topic.

"... anyway, there’s one more thing you should probably know - We’ve managed to stabilise the state of the remaining member of Trent’s inner circle."

"Really? Are you going to interrogate him then?" Calen asked.

Lydia shook her head.

"He’s out of the woods, but he’s still in a coma."

"Oh."

"The good news is that him waking up is a matter of ’when’ not ’if’. If we learn anything that might be important after he regains consciousness, we’ll send a runner to Mountainfall to inform you."

Cassian had a doubtful expression.

"How can you be so sure we’ll still be there by then?"

Lydia shrugged.

"I’m can’t be sure, but you’ve spent a better part of a month in our little shit hole, so you’re certainly going to stay there for longer - even if only because one of the people you’re looking for is there."

"Speaking of your journey, we should probably brief you on what kinds of abominations you might meet on your way there." Baor noted.

Vinifer nodded in agreement.

"The path to Mountainfall is littered with danger, but it’s significantly easier to navigate if you know what to avoid."

"They’re right, you’ll be better off knowing a few things about the road." Lydia paused, thinking about the most crucial facts to bring up. "For one, it a very long trek - there are no safehouses along the path, so if you want to make it without risking having to travel after sundown, you’ll have to set off at dawn and not take any breaks."

"What about the monsters? Any we should particularly avoid?" Cassian queried.

Baor scratched his beard.

"The most common ones are the big owls, what did the Blightborn call them again? Not... Nox..."

"Noctharax." Elira supplied.

"That’s it!" The Elder snapped his fingers. "I take it you’ve encountered them before?"

"Yes, but it was basically dying when we fought it, so we have little idea of their capabilities." Calen confirmed.

Baor nodded solemnly.

"The buggers are particularly annoying because of two things - they can blind their opponents, and fly. We think that they might be nesting in the crown of the great tree, and that’s why there are so many of them here."

"You don’t have to worry too much about them, though." Alara interjected. "They search for prey while flying, so you’ll be practically invisible to them if you use the cloaks."

Cassian decided to change his line of questioning:

"Is there anything out there that can see through our disguises?"

"See? Probably not. Sense your presence? Unfortunately a few." Vinifer sighed.

He proceeded to list half a dozen creatures that could kill them in a blink of an eye.

"How the hell are we supposed to survive this journey if there are so my deadly things out there?" Calen asked.

"I’m glad you asked!" Lydia smirked, pulled out something, and placed it on the table.

It was a relatively thick collection of notes on ever single monster in the vicinity of greenheart, along with the ways to avoid each if them.

"I would advise that at least one of you reads the entire thing before you go to sleep tonight." She added.

Elira reached out, and snatched the stack of papers from the table, tucking them neatly inside her bag.

"Anything more we should know?" Isara asked.

"Don’t say you’re from Greenheart before you get inside."

"Why?" Calen frowned. "I thought you were allies with them."

Vinifer nodded.

"That’s true, but in all of history Greenheart has never sent anyone there without prior notice - if you show up claiming to be from here, they’ll likely attack you since they won’t believe you."

"What are we supposed to tell them then?"

"Just say you’re seeking refuge, they won’t pry."

"Is that all?"

"I think so..." The former Archdruid suddenly remembered something. "Actually, there’s one more thing - when Mountainfall’s illusion faltered the Blightborn must have noticed, there’s bound to be at least one patrol squad in the area. If you encounter them don’t fight, just run away."

Lydia nodded with a serious expression.

"From what we know the Serakhiin are actually aware of the Flamebearer, but consider it a myth - we don’t want to find out what they’ll do if they find out that the person who exists specifically to destroy them isn’t actually just a fairytale."

Something about her tone sent shivers down the Calen’s spine - fortunately for him Isara changed the topic:

"Since you guys have given us a gift, it’s only fair that we return the gesture." She took out a heavy tome out of the spacial bag Calen has brought with him, and pushed it towards Alara.

The cover was decorated with a simple silver letters spelling ’Rune dictionary 3rd edition’

"I thought that someone as brilliant as you shouldn’t have to settle on just two branches of magic, so I give you access to every rune you could think of."

Alara cautiously took the book, and looked at her mentee.

"Don’t you need something like that on your own journey?" She questioned.

"We do, but we have two more copies - one belongs to Cal, and the other was taken from the temple. The one you have comes from Koravel’s stash, and is geared towards beginners, since he had no way of knowing how advanced the Flamebearer will be."

Having confirmed that she wasn’t leaving them in a bad situation by accepting the gift, Alara snatched the heavy tome and hugged it to her chest.

"Thank you Isa, I’ll make good use of it."

"The Tower won’t be happy by the new competition." Baor laughed.

Lydia didn’t think it was very funny.

"Ba might be joking, but those from the Fallen Tower take their job in regulating magic usage very seriously, you probably shouldn’t go around advertising your knee knowledge."

Alara sighed.

"I like magic, but please give me more credit that that - it’s not like I’ll try to damage their fragile egos on purpose. Besides, we have contact with the tower once every five years, it’s quite easy to simply avoid them."

Vinifer grimaced.

"I think they might visit us very soon, actually." He stated.

All the eyes were on him.

"What do you mean?" Alara was slightly alarmed by the news.

"From the last message we received from mountainfall, one could easily infer that they called for someone from the tower to come and fix their illusion"

"And you think they’ll come here?" Lydia asked.

"Most likely, as there are no other settlements on the road between Mountainfall and the Tower."

"Shit."She ran a hand through her hair. "Is there something we could do to prevent the members of the circle from blabbing about Cal and his companions? The last thing they need is the Tower trying to ’help’ them."

"No need." Interjected Baor. "By the time the guy arrives here they’ll be safe in Mountainfall - I would like to see them try anything while the kids are under the protection of Sylara."

"Assuming she will take them under her wing" Vinifer pointed out.

The large druid chuckled.

"Have you ever heard of Sylara refusing refuge to anyone?"

"No, but she might be to busy to deal with them directly - and her subordinates aren’t nearly as kind as she is."

Baor gave him a deadpan look.

"Really? You think that she’ll be too busy to meet the person who will save the entire world?" He gestured at Calen.

Once again, the mention of his heroic duties made him feelba bit uneasy - not enough for it to show in his expression, but enough to bother him for the rest of the meal.

The two Elders bantered in the background, and just when the discussion was about to turn into an argument, a couple of staff members walked in, finally bringing food to the table.

When everyone has their food, Lydia smiled and said:

"Let’s enjoy our last meal together."