Waiting For Faewen'il And Xavier

FRIDAY 1 DECEMBER 3460

They take advantage of what will be one of their last nights of comfort for a while by sleeping in late. They start to rise just before 9.00 and head down to the main room of the tavern. As they pass the kitchen, they see that Blanka is up and is cooking breakfast for them all. She seems to have calmed down a little, trying to put a brave face on the situation. She is being assisted by the squires and she seems to be teaching them a little more about cooking.

As the party sits down to eat breakfast, Bennett and the Padre make their entry. As Father Amil-Gandel predicted, all signs of their infection have passed and they are now looking fine. Once she has finished the cooking and laid the food out upon the table, Blanka and the squires come in to join the others.

Bennett marches up to the table and begins eating heartily, muttering between bites how remarkable it is that he is all fixed up so quickly.

The Padre also eats heartily, sharing Bennett's wonder, happiness, relief, etc, at not being infected any longer.

Winnacer starts the conversation:

"So what do we all fancy doing while we are in town with a day to kill?" he asks.

Gronk turns to Blanka:

"Be there any dwarves in town?" he asks her.

"Just a few," she replies. "It's a bit flat for them here. Most of them drink at the Leaping Manticore on the opposite side of town."

Gronk nods:

"I think I'll head over there and see what they're up to," he says.

Will speaks next:

"If we are to face the priests of disease shortly, then I really need to have mastered 'the Vibe' before then. I need to spend the day learning from Oldrich."

"I want to go have a bit of a talk with 'Honest' Honza about settling our debt, perhaps with the wagon and scrap metal cages as additional coverage," Jihan says. "I also want to see about getting a hold of some additional lamp oil and any vodka, for sterilizing, that the town might have to offer."

"I shall also go and meet with Pavla of the Apothecaries' Guild to see what assistance she can provide. As well as whatever medicines she has available for us, it might be a good idea to stock up on antiseptic herbs and such as well, if the resource presents itself," he says to those inclined towards such applications.

"Some Adder's Tongue or Coltsfoot might be worth investing in, though they're both well out of season."

"Maybe th' woods 'ave somethin? Yaz?" Kokal intones from the background.

"I'll keep an eye out for anything useful," interjects Yaz. "After all that time in Pardubitze, I can't stand to spend another day in town. I'm heading off into the country. Shame that there are no woods anywhere close, but it's better than nothing."

Winnacer listens to each of them tell the others their plans for the day, and then speaks:

"As for myself, I plan upon asking around and finding out some information regarding the strength of the garrison and the feelings of the townspeople towards revolution. I remember Lenyn saying that Vysoke Myto was his next target, as the garrison here is not large and removing it would allow more villages to come over to the side of revolution."

"Faewen'il and Xavier should be arriving here during the evening. Let us all reassemble here at 8.00 to tell of what we have been able to achieve."

Once the breakfast has been finished, each of them sets about their tasks for the day, with most of them heading out of the inn in order to attend to their business. As they set off from the place just after 10.00, it is starting to snow, as Yaz predicted it would.

Bennett, however, waits around until the others leave, then speaks with Aneira in private. He then leaves the inn and goes to seek out an armorer in order to buy a small shield. He takes it with him out to the stable for some hours.

Aneira walks out into the day herself, looking for whatever herbs she could find to replace some of the ones she had used and trying to enjoy being alone.

The inn is quiet for the day save for the sounds of Will learning 'the Vibe' from Oldrich, who is naturally rolling drunk by lunchtime. This seems to be no barrier to his playing or teaching ability, however. In fact it seems to make him play better.

Once Bennett is done with his shield, he starts to barhop, drinking in moderation, for him, and making grand boasts about the coming revolution. As coinage is short, he buys only small beer, though lots of it. He does not mention his involvement with the revolution, but leaves his opinion of the matter very clear. He does not attempt to incite a riot or start a fight, just wanting to see what the mood of the rowdy barfly types is.

By mid-afternoon, the streets of the town are blanketed by a thin cover of snow, the first time this year that the snow has really settled. It looks as if it is going to be around for a while.

The snow brings real happiness to Aneira's face. She walks around, her face uplifted to the snow, ignoring the cold which she doesn't feel anyway. Another brief moment of bliss.

As dusk falls, the members of the party start to reassemble in the main room of the inn and Blanka once more prepares a hearty meal for them all. Just before 8.00, Yaz arrives in the room and sits down with the rest of them.

"So what have we all been able to accomplish?" Winnacer asks.

"I spent quite a while meeting people and determining the situation with the Nyemetz here," he continues. "Lenyn was absolutely right about the fact that the garrison here is only a small one. From what I understand, the Nyemetz' numbers' have been shrinking rapidly, as more and more of them are drafted to the Eastern Front. By all accounts, there are just two companies of orcs and three of goblins here - that's just 100 troops in total, plus a small command group. Once the forces of the Twin Villages and the Orlitze valley have been properly trained and equipped, I would imagine that they would have little difficulty in taking the town from the Nyemetz."

"However," he continues, "it looks as if they are not going to receive much in the way of townspeople in the short term. As the Nyemetz' numbers have diminished, they tend to leave the townspeople to their own devices. Although most of the people whom I spoke with would like to see Vysoke Myto cleared of the Nyemetz, there are not many who are prepared to lay down their lives to make it happen."

"Aye," agrees Gronk. "The dwarves I spoke to in the Leaping Manticore were just the same. Gone soft, they 'ave. That's what comes o' bein' around humans too much. There are less than an 'undred o' them in the town an' I couldn't find many what be willin' to put down their flagons and pick up their axes to be givin' the Nyemetz a good whackin'."

While Winnacer has been talking about revolution in the town, Yaz hands little packages wrapped up in a large dock leaf to Aneira and the Padre:

"This should replace all of the healing herbs that you've been using recently. It's all I could find. It's the wrong time of year for trying to find anything special," the druid says a little sadly.

"Did you have any more luck at the Apothecaries' Guild?" he asks Jihan.

"Yes and no," the elf replies, placing a fair-sized bundle on the table.

"I'm afraid that they were not able to provide a panacea against the type of disease that the GermSpreader infected Bennett and the Padre with. Guildmistress Pavla said that it could be possible for her to concoct a remedy from the Father's description of the disease, but the process is a slow one. She said that to find such a remedy would take roughly three weeks, with no guarantee that she would be successful after that time. Once the recipe had been discovered, each batch would take roughly a week to cook up, so she was talking about a month to be able to come up with it, and we just haven't got that long."

"She said that she would start work on such an antidote in any case, just in case the Cult of Nemotz uses it as the basis for a new plague."

"She was, however, able to provide me with some more standard medicines, which could prove to be useful."

He starts to take small vials from the bag, handing out two of each to each member of the party:

"These are emetics," he says handing out the first of the vials. "If any of us are poisoned, then these will induce vomiting, which would give us a chance against the poison, although there is no guarantee of their success. She gave me two doses for each of you."

"These next are healing salves," he continues, producing two large pottery jars. "They are no substitute for the powers of our priestly members, but they do speed up the natural healing process quite considerably if we are unable to use magical healing methods. She gave me 20 applications."

"These last are painkillers," he finishes, handing out a couple more vials to each of them. "She said that it makes the recipient immune to pain for a few hours, which is why they're used as an anesthetic during operations. It also means that the recipient is able to fight on longer than normal after receiving massive injuries. The Guildmistress did tell me, however, not to take too many of them, or else there is the danger of some permanent damage from their use."

Gronk eyes the vials handed to him, holds one up in front of him briefly and shakes it to see if it bubbles or does anything interesting. Seeing that they don't, he puts them away with a shrug of his shoulders.

Aneira takes all but the painkiller:

"I don't take such things," she replies and waves them away. "Save them for someone that might use them."

"I've no need fer 'em myself either," Kokal says, taking the vials Aneira refuses. "Jus' 'eal the bloody cut right off. But if the priestess won't 'ave e'm, I'll 'old onta these case someone tha' might want 'em gets inta some spot where they can't take their own."

After finishing distributing the vials, Jihan continues:

"Pavla was very helpful indeed. She also told me that if we ever had any type of magickal potion or similar, then she would be able to identify them for free. It does take a day for her to perform the action, however."

"She was also able to obtain ten flasks of lamp oil for me. Unfortunately, she did not have access to the more inflammatory oil so beloved by our friend, Flint."

The elf then lets out a sigh before continuing:

"I wish that I could say that my meeting with 'Honest' Honza had gone as well. I think that 'Stubborn' Honza would be a better nickname for him, as I was unable to get him to agree to any part-exchange deals. He wanted the cash - 600 gold pieces, to be precise."

"Where are all of our funds?" Winnacer asks.

"I think that Faewen'il is still carrying them," Jihan replies. "However, it's not too much of a problem as I kept the money that Magda returned to me before we entered Pardubitze. The debt has thus been paid off."

Winnacer nods:

"That was very useful. Perhaps it might be best if we shared out the group funds if Faewen'il is going to continue to spend so much time on her own, however."

"Where is she anyway?" asks Aneira. "Shouldn't she and Xavier be back by now?"

"She should have been," Winnacer replies. "Perhaps she has been a little delayed by the snow. Hopefully they will arrive at some time during the evening or in the night. We should leave the door open for her and perhaps one of us should stay on watch in order to look out for her. I think that we should give it to the morning before we start worrying about their safety."

"I thought that perhaps we should hold onto the wagon for the moment," adds Jihan, "as any journey to combat the minions of Nemotz will no doubt leave us with incapacitated people, whether they be us or those who are being experimented upon."

"This weather isn't going to help with moving such around though..." he says, peering out the window at the gently drifting snow. He smiles as the crystals float by, seemingly little fazed by the cold himself, though this has more to do with being an elf than with priestly blessings.

They continue to eat the large meal that Blanka has prepared, chatting amongst themselves. Jihan avoids speaking overly much with Blanka about things, afraid that bringing up Yindrik or tales of the past may only remind her further of what has been taken from her. His face does show concern, and he does offer a shoulder squeeze of comfort whenever he notices that the woman appears to be suffering. For the most part though, he sighs and stares off in the direction of the lair of Nemotz, waiting for Fae and Xavier to show up.

A watch rota is then prepared so as to keep a lookout for the arrival of Fae and Xavier and then they all head for their rooms.

Bennett remained drinking in the taverns of Vysoke Myto until around 11.00. He came to the same conclusion as Winnacer and Gronk in that the townspeople are not terribly keen on the idea of risking their lives in revolution just at the moment, although they would rather see the Nyemetz rule overthrown. Compared to the citizens of Pardubitze, the townspeople cannot be considered as party animals and Bennett stands out like a sore thumb as he continues to shout his mouth off. He realizes that his actions are hardly making him terribly popular with the landlords of the taverns he drinks in, nor many of the drinkers, many of whom leave the tavern for fear that his loud boasts will attract the attention of the patrols and get them all in trouble.

By 11.00, Bennett finds himself drinking alone, with the landlord looking at him finishing off his drink, making it very obvious that he wishes to close up. Bennett decides not to antagonize the barman any longer and head back to The Cartwrights. Finding the rest of the party already asleep except for Gronk, who is the one on watch, Bennett raids the kitchen for some leftovers and then heads upstairs in order to find a bed in which he can sleep off the effects of the drink.

 

SATURDAY 2 DECEMBER 3460

Jihan, who has perhaps the least regular sleep pattern of the group, typically catching his rest as short catnaps during the day or as reverie when more ample time presents itself, is up well before the others, and spends much of the morning in the stables practicing with his newly acquired daggers, shirtless, despite the cold. He runs though various combinations of dagger and sword, sword and dagger before slowing down to a bit of archery and throwing practice in the back yard with a bale of hay from the stable.

Jihan's routine is then disrupted by the arrival of Padre Kokal. The Padre starts a bit when he sees Jihan, but a brief grin flashes across his face as he walks toward the hay bales in the barnyard, his morningstar and hand axe in his belt over his robes. Jihan notices no armor on the priest.

"Mornin'," Kokal mumbles as he catches the elf's eye. "'Ad about enough sleepin'. M'horse needed seein' t'fer the cold .... an' 'ad m'devotions t'do anyway."

The elf nods his head, then pauses to fire off several rounds into the hay. The fourth arrow is in the air even as the first strikes:

"A lot easier shooting at hay bales..." he mutters.

Amazingly enough, the elf actually appears to be progressing with his bow work, little by little as it is.

"'Ope I'm not disruptin' ye routine too much," says Kokal, "but I 'ad th'thought that maybe th'reason I've been so bleedin' feeble in a fight of late is that Radegast is punishin' me fer neglectin' trainin' in 'is ways."

"Ye needn't worry 'bout fallin' ill 'round me, though. The Lechit 'ealin' worked wonders."

"No worries, brother," the elf says, pausing to lean on his bow a bit and observe his handiwork. "Radegast isn't the only one who rewards hard work. We really haven't had much of a chance to do any sparring these past few days, with all the running around and warring and such. My uncle always told me it was best to be prepared, and the best preparation is practice, so..."

Shrugging slightly, Jihan unstrings his bow then shrugs his battle harness on, launching a few daggers towards the much abused bale of hay.

Kokal begins a series of complex and skillful manuevers against a hay bale with his star. The priest shows that it is far from the first time he has tried any of them.

Pausing in his own activities to admire the war priest's combat form, the elf draws twin shortswords and advances towards Kokal once the priest's latest round on the bale is complete.

"I've never had much experience fighting against flail-like weapons, brother," he begins in an almost conversational tone. "Mind if we have a go at it? Uncle Gustafos told me to be careful around them, as they're designed to wrap around shields and the like to strike at the foe behind. I'd just like to work on defense, if you don't mind. Redirecting the striking head is the best if you're lightly armored, but you've got to have quick wrists for it."

Jihan's own, thickened by much combat in the past few months, attest to this ability in the elf.

"M'father used a star fightin' th'invasion," Kokal says. "An' I like it that m'opponents can't easily hide from Radegast's hand 'hind some shield."

"Fighting always seems to clear the head for talking any way..." he continues, falling into a back stance with one blade high and one low.

"Come 'head, then," Kokal drawing up to his full height of 6'4" to regard Jihan, his right wrist flicking the morningstar in a circle off to that side before graduating into a steadily speeding up figure-8 in front of the war priest.

"I don' mind tellin' ye that I'm more than a little concerned 'bout Xavier an' the mage lass," Kokal says to Jihan in the midst of his workout. "Still ain't seen a sign of 'em this mornin."

"What is it about that mage-child, anyway?" he asks, half to himself as he continues to assault the hay.

Sparring for a couple of minutes to get the feel of the rather awkward matching, Jihan eventually begins speaking:

"Where to begin on that one..." the elf says, a slight grimace on his face. "So much has happened in such a short time, too short a time for some. Poor, poor Fae. She used to call herself Maire, you know?" he continues, mid parry. "That means 'jewel' in elven. Such a fine and good name.."

Sighing despite his exertions, the elf catches the morning star in a high cross block, redirecting it to the ground even as he steps aside.

"I used to think. No, everything's so different now. This whole Boscobelous thing is just the tip of the iceberg with her. All this killing, all those innocent lives ending for who? Us. Just a bunch of vagabonds with a vision."

"Ah'd 'ardly call freein' th'country from the accursed rule o' th'Nyemetz a personal vendetta, comrade," Kokal says, his blow at that moment perhaps slightly harder than they have been up to then.

Pausing to duck a high swing, the elf scrambles to meet the return with a blade, just barely blocking as he makes a hip roll and comes up with snow on much of his upper torso. In the exchange, he has stuck Todtaenzer in the ground and with a flick of the wrist, filled the empty hand with a glassteel dagger.

"Prepare for every extreme," he quotes off, gritting his teeth. "And Boscobelous... I suppose you've heard the legends, of his tower and such? As did we. At the time we were in need of repaying a debt to the Kitrians for their services in their most treasured currency: knowledge. Discovering the truth of Boscobelous seemed the ideal compromise, as we were planning on heading there any way."

In so saying, he has exchanged Makanuru and the dagger in his hands, and switched to a reversed front stance.

"Almost all of us..." he continues, a small frown on his face and a far away look in his eyes that does little to diminish his reflexes as he catches the morning star on Makanuru and uses the dagger to slide it off in a quick cross.

Breathing a bit hard, the elf retreats under a hail of blows from the Padre, being forced to roll to the ground again on the last as he almost slips on an icy patch.

Turning his blade down, surprisingly enough, in the Radegastian sign of yield, Jihan pauses to catch his breath in a crouch. Resheathing his blades in one well practiced motion, he retrieves Todtaenzer from the ground and wipes it off on some of the hay.

"Aye," Kokal sighs, himself nearing being winded from the pair's exertions. "Thin' that'll do fer beatin' on each other. Let's save some fer the Nyemetz, eh?"

"It is well for th'cause t'ave such as ye, Jihan. Truly well."

"To make a long story short," Jihan starts, "we found that the stories about Boscobelous being a powerful necromancer were far from false, though we payed an awful price to gain this knowledge. From the stories of his miraculuous 'reincarnations', I never really believed that we had defeated him, but we didn't know where his twisted spirit went. We found his spellbooks, which Fae lay rightful claim to, and that's when the scare began. Winn was yet to be ordained, so we had little forewarning of what was to come, save the suspicions of our friend Konan of Kitry. This possession has me scared. For Fae, for all of us. She has suffered a lot, though perhaps less than she believes under our hand. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be the only woman among so many bloodthirsty men. She was raised differently, told that the peaceful way was best, that life was a sacred thing. And all we could ever do was kill and kill and kill some more."

"It is war we are in, though," Kokal says, regaining his breath. "P'raps she is yet too much a child t'understan' that -- though I cannot believe it, seeing th' she 'as the mind for the magic as she does -- but war it is. An' the first rule of it is: some must die.... because of the'second rule ... some must kill. An' th' rules're th' same fer th' good an th'evil."

Shaking his head, the elf turns his attention back to the bale of hay, walking up to retrieve his practice arrows and cast daggers. As he returns, he pivots on the ball of one foot, and casts a couple more daggers from not so obvious sheaths towards the bale, then stands and sighs. He makes another trip to collect them, speaking even as he does so:

"I'm worried, brother, at what she is becoming. I think she used to hold a place in her heart for me, but I think I've removed all hope of that, just.. not knowing what to do about it. She speaks often of how the magic consumes her from the inside... It's like all we can do is pound on her like hammers, scraping away anything soft to reveal cold hard steel beneath."

"She looks t'ave given up some measure of th'fight, I thin', an' 'til 'earin' this from ye 'bout th' sway of Boscobelous on th'girl, I could'n understan' why she cannot see -- or does not want -- th' 'elp she is offered by all of ye," Kokal sighs. "But if t'is the influence of the evil mage ye tellin' me of, Faewen'il cannot be 'eld to it. But I don' thin' the lass should be abandoned. She 'as too much worth, that is obvious."

Still a bit winded, the elf takes three deep breaths, holding the last one for a moment before expelling it slowly.

"That's how I see it, anyway."

Extending his hand to clasp forearms, Jihan nods his head, his lips turning up into a slight grin:

"Thank you for the sparring, and the talking, brother," he says simply, making a half bow. "Nainie and her brothers and sisters sound hungry, and I feel like saving our poor squires a bit of work today."

"An'time, comrade ... on both counts," Kokal says, stowing his weapon. "Radegast grant ye th'same skill ye've shown 'ere next time we meet the enemy."

Kokal quickly traces the inverted sword symbol in the air.

Staring up towards the overcast sigh, the elf closes his eyes momentarily, his face grim, then turns towards the stables.

"Aye," says Kokal with a bit of a grin, looking around the barnyard at the decimated hay bales, "we c'v save th' lads some work, but I thin we've made life a bit 'arder for o'ever owns this hay!"

The Padre begins to look for some implement to gather up the 'wounded' with before heading in to breakfast.

The elf then turns to inspect the condition of the wagon more closely. He sees that the wagon is fine. In fact, it appears to be of fairly recent construction. Appraising it, he believes that it is less than six months old and shows little sign of wear.

When Xavier and Fae do not show up during all this time, he begins to get worried, and eventually makes his way back to the Cartwright's Arms.

As on the previous day, the others all head down to another of Blanka's breakfasts at around 9.00 after the priests have seen to their devotions and all have bathed. Bennett, having missed out on everyone's summary of their activities the previous evening, finds out from Will what the others discussed the night before. As they assemble around the table once more, they all realize that neither Xavier nor Faewen'il arrived during the night.

Remembering why they are waiting here in the first place, Bennett asks the group:

"So, do we go without them? Or do we go back for them? Or do we sit on our hands and wait? Near as I can tell, there isn't any hope of stirring the revolution here unless we bring some men with us, as the townspeople certainly don't seem inclined to rebel, so unless we decide to take on the Nyemetz ourselves, there ain't too much reason to stay. I figure that Fae and Xavier will come here, same as we did, and if we head out to the Lab, Blanka can tell them where we are. We already wasted all day yesterday and I don't think we want to leave the man and his daughter to the predation of those filthy priests any longer. Even if we get them out, they'll be scarred for life. I for one think we should go on and do this thing. Screw Xavier and his damned hat and Fae with all her sorcerous secrecy."

Aneira glares at Bennett as he mentions Fae's secrecy.

Will shakes his head sadly at Aneira and her glares. Within himself, he too wishes certain members of the party would become more open with their thoughts and actions, but holds his tongue in order to avoid condemnation for overstepping his bounds.

"They'll have to fend for themselves for a while," Bennett continues. "The best we can practically do at this point is send Yaz's bird out to see if they are on their way. Then if they still haven't turned up by the time we get back from the Temple, we can go and see what's up. However, I for one am damn tired of this town, and would rather be doing something else! What do you all think?"

Making sure that Blanka is not anywhere near for this conversation, Jihan responds:

"I'm thinking you may be right here, brother. Time is of the essence if we want to have any hope of saving Mirek and Zuzana from harm. Best case scenario is them having to travel 50 miles back to their compound with a two day head start. Even burdened with wagons and this little bout of inclement weather, their lead may just be insurmountable for the moment. The help of a FaithHealer from Olmutz would be welcome, but we have little enough time as it is. The Mordion used to use different birds to carry messages back and forth depending on the season. I know that Yindrik used to keep some, but I noticed that the roost seems to be missing from the attic. Perhaps Yaz's friend might get a little busy in the next few days, though Gertrude's the only one who's well equipped to deal with this kind of weather."

"If she's up to it, that is. We most certainly should have someone do a quick search up around Pardubitze way, just to see if they got stuck on the road or something. I don't like this at all..."

"I don't want to leave behind any members, as I'm sure no one else does either, but we cannot wait forever," comments Will. "A message for Fae and Xavier may have to do."

"Aye... aye," Padre Kokal says, a bit haltingly. "C'n y'send th' bird t'see 'bout 'em, Yaz?"

"If they aren't on th'way, though, I thin' Bennett may be right that this woman's kin can't 'ford fer us t'be waitin' 'round fer 'em -- e'en though tha' lass' magic 'ould be a great weapon."

"If th' birds don' find 'em about 'ere, I don' thin' we can wait."

Kokal is obviously pained by the conclusion.

"One day more or less won't matter much," Aneira says calmly. "Most people have problems traveling through snow. We will have more of a chance of success with their aid. Leaving now without them at partial strength won't help anyone."

"Maybe ye right," Kokal concedes, uncomfortable still with both alternatives. "Maybe we c'n 'least wait fer what th'birds c'n find."

"At least. I'm sure if you were left behind, even at your own will, you'd like to be waited for," Aneira says mildly.

"And still, the two of them couldn't know what we'd find here in Myto, or the urgency of the issue," comments Jihan. "For all we know, they could believe that a couple more days won't make much difference, even without snow. We definitely need messengers. Perhaps I'll have to go and speak with the priests of Vitur about this when we make our way to Olmutz. They do maintain a rather extensive open-air aviary there, more of a sick bird hospice. They'll surely know more about it then I would..."

Realizing that he's gone a bit off track, the elf shakes his head slightly and returns to the present:

"It's probably just the snow slowing them down. Plus the fact that, if night is not the best time to travel, a WINTER night is even less so. We should at the very least wait a couple more hours to find out what we can and give them a little more time. Still..." he continues, staring out towards the bar where Blanka is.

Sighing, he glances around at the rest for opinions.

At the mention of Winter not being a good time to travel, Aneira murmurs:

"For most, that is true and I plan on giving them another day. If you would like to leave without me, then I can relay any messages. The illness takes months to do its job, going up against these people at less than full strength seems foolish to me, but you each must make your own decisions."

Bennett looks somewhat unhappy:

"I think it is a bad idea for us to split up. Whatever decision we make, we should all stick with it. This whole situation is caused by us splitting up in the first place."

"I'm fer waitin' that long at least, a'fer sendin' someone 'r somethin' out t'see 'bout 'em," the Padre concludes.

"So maybe someone can explain to me how Gertrude will see Maire' and Xavier if they're invisible with Maire's magic?" asks Yaz. "I'll send her if you want, but she don't see too good during the day, and she might not find her way back to us if we move. If I send her now, and we just wait an hour or two, that'll give her enough time to cover some pretty good ground back to Pardubitze. But no guarantees -- it's not nighttime."

"Even if they're travellin' invisible, they can't make the tracks disappear -- blessin' of th'snow, eh priestess?" the Padre says, with a quick, tentative glance at Aneira. "An' if the owl mightn't be th'best to send, I'd be willin' t'go back over th' likely path t'day fer as far as I c'n an'still make it back by dark -- 'specially since I 'ave nothin' more important t'do in town."

Aneira nods and smiles at the Padre:

"Exactly," she replies.

"Any rate, if they aren't 'ere come mornin'" the Padre continues, "well, the Nemotz cretins can't be 'lowed t'harvest these people any longer."

"I don't know iffin it would be a good idea to leave 'ere afore we knows where they is," Gronk comments.

"Seems ta me 'at 'em pus priests are gonna be quite da challenge with 'em spreadin' germs an' all. Sure would be lots easier iffin Fae was 'ere so as ta take care o' some o' 'em without us gettin' too close. Maybe it's just 'cause I be dyin' so much recently, but I don't be feelin' too good 'bout us takin' 'em out with da group we gots 'ere now."

Bennett nods:

"Believe me, I know what kind of danger we are in, but what other option do we have? Just sit here and let this fine woman's family, who have helped us out in the past, be subjected to the depradations of those foul mongrels? I don't think it's a good idea to wait any longer here. I realize that I can't do this thing on my own, and Fae's help would be much appreciated, but I think we all know that she will appear any time she damn well pleases. We may be here a month waiting for her to show up. Do you want that on your conscience? This woman's family dead?"