Chapter 14: Old Friends/New Friends

     A cry goes up all over the city and a man runs through the streets nearby shouting, "We have won, the are Outsiders are gone! We have won, the Outsiders are gone!" Gwydeon brushes himself off and looks around. Magnus raises himself off the ground and brushes his robe off with his one good arm, "That was interesting... well it's good to know that there will be no more of them."

     Torana says, "You know what? I'm hungry. What's say we get try getting a little dinner. I know this lovely place up town." He turns and walks away not the least bit concerned that he has lost his wonderful staff and the city looks like a war zone. After a few steps he starts whistling a tune and walking with a spring in his step as if this were a bright summers day. Pendran and Dayal follow him, Pendran saying, "He's not the only one who's hungry. All that fighting works up an appetite." He grins, patting his stomach.

     Nushaba, staring at the dead body of the Marshall, whispers, "I wanted to kill him." She sighs deeply and tears form on her face, she cries for only a brief moment before realizing others are around. Wiping away her tears she looks around and shakes her head. Looks at the retreating mage and shrugs her shoulders. Putting away her sword she says, "That's the best offer I've had all night." Magnus follows after Nushaba leaving Gwydeon alone for a moment. The elf looks intently around him for several moments before going to join with the others.

     After several minutes of walking they find themselves in front of a dirty rundown shack that looks like it would collapse if anyone sneezes on it. Hanging from a wall, is a dirty sign that says, "Chandler".

     Confused they follow Torana into the rickety structure to find a cramped room filled with candle making equipment. Pendran, following the retreating form of Torana, moves towards the rear moving between two large vats of wax and the others follow him. As they enter a back room, they are surprised by the sudden change of scenery. No longer are they in a rickety shack, but they stand in a very large circular room. Books of all sizes and colors fill massive bookshelves that are nearly three stories tall. To one side is a large picture window that looks out above a forest. Dominating one wall is a large fireplace in front of which, placed in a U-shape are several large comfortable couches.

     Two other figures are standing off to one side. Elves by race, but in the light they look darker than any elves Nushaba has ever seen. Both greet them with a slight inclination of the head.

     Torana smiles and flops down casually on one of the couches. "Do you think you dear boys could find something in that kitchen of your to feed a few weary souls."

     The elves smiles and one says, "Well I think we might have just enough for you and a few other visitors we are expecting."

     The other one continues in a playful tone, "You'll just have to take what we can muster up."

     In mock irritation Torana says, "Of all the nerve! Here a group of weary adventurers come to grace your doors and we're treated like common scullery boys."

     One of the elves says, "If we treated you like scullery boys then we'd make you clean the floors, before you get any food."

     The other adds grinning, "We can do that if you insist."

     "Oh no, no that isn't really necessary I'm sure you'll come up with something very suitable to our pallets." After a few minutes Torana gets up and moves over to one of the bookshelves, he nearly disappears into the shadow. "Oh Pendran, that reminds me could you go and get our other visitors. They should be standing outside right about now looking rather lost."

     Pendran shrugs his shoulders and walks out of the room. A few minutes later the oddest group of people walk in. All dressed in white, first enters a very pretty human woman with long blonde hair and green eyes. Following her is an attractive elfish woman with golden eyes and raven black hair. Behind her is an male elf with silver eyes and long amber colored hair. Behind him is a slightly disfigured elf walking next to yet another elf this one wearing a half melted silver necklace. Bringing up the rear is Pendran chatting with a huge ogre with whom Magnus and Gwydeon once traveled. Pendran is saying, "...better with it so that one day when a certain orc we know comes to claim it, he won't find me such an easy target."

     "So good of you to join us Ladies and Gentleman", says Torana. Moving out of the shadows of one of the bookcases, Torana smiles and gestures over to the couches, "come rest for a moment." This valley owes you a debt of gratitude that I can only in part repay. I heard that you had lost all of your weapons and armor in that last fight. I can help you only slightly in that respect. First of all the monetary reward which I mentioned. He nods to the two elves, one of which opens a large sack and proceeds to pull out much smaller bags.

     "Which reminds me Gwydeon this belongs to you," he moves over to one of the book cases and opens a small drawer. Pulling out another sack he says, "I was told to give you this as most of the other members have been paid."

     Pendran coughs and says, "You're just now getting paid? Where have you been hiding in the middle of nowhere?"

     Addressing the second group he says, "In addition to your reward, the Warlord has allowed that you should choose one item from his rather vast armory to make up for the losses while doing work in his service. I should think that unless you plan on buying a small village you should be well set for quite some time. Now come let us relax and have some food. The second elf exits a door and comes back a few moments later leading a train of floating trays filled to the brim with fruits, vegetables, steamed meat, bread and cheese.

     Gwydeon asks about the staff that Torana had. To which he replies, "Oh that, that was just a loaner which Assyir allowed me to use to stop the forces that threaten our fragile peace. After its task was done, he took it back."

     Magnus asks about the invaders and what lies outside the valley, Torana smiles and says, "A whole new world lies out there, but it is not the least bit friendly to anyone. You got a small taste of what it's like out there when they were in here. As you probably have guessed those soldiers were not from anywhere inside the valley. As far as I know they follow some mythical creature who's only aim is to forment chaos and keep the races from unifying and creating peaceful nations. This valley is the opposite of everything they stand for. It's a wonder they didn't try this before, but mark my words. They will be back. The outside world doesn't breed their men too smart, too greedy, yes, too smart, no. Their main war is with the Universal Harmony Church who promotes peace and order. Don't ask me how I know this because that is a long story and I kinda of want to eat sometime this century." He grins.

     Between bites Magnus turns to Nushaba and asks about her being an ogre and what kind of magic she used. At this Aladfar turns and looks all around confusedly, before his eye fix on the only young lady in the room not wearing white. "Nushaba...'the arrow' are you any good at archery?"

     She replies with a blank face, "Aladfar...'the hand that touches the harp'… probably better than you play the harp." After a moment she smiles.

     Aladfar says, "Don't be so sure, if I could find one my size...."

     Nushaba turns to Magnus and says, "I suppose at first it should have been obvious I was an ogre, but you never mentioned it before, so I figured perhaps you didn't think about that possibility. We used fairly simple shrinking magic to do so. The magic is permanent until a reverse spell is used."

     Torana interrupts, "Simple for ogres, I've been learning that this means it's damned hard for the rest of us. It seems the ogres aren't nearly as dumb as they've lead everyone to believe."

     Conversation eventually turns to the upcoming war. Torana says, "We can't depend on outside help that's for sure. Any help we bring would just as likely try and take over. There is a saying outside the valley, 'Evil hides behind a friendly face.' I think we must find a way to avert the war, because if it comes down to battle, even your combined forces will lose in the end. The small bits of orc learning I have been able to gleam from them also shows that their adaptaions of magic are beyond even your greatest mages, which is considerable."

     Magnus, Gwydeon, Pendran, Dayal and Aladfar talk about old times and someone asks about the old comrades. Pendran says, "The only one we could find was Burk and he is still at his fathers inn in Meadows End."

     Gwydeon mentions that he last saw Tasha, the speaker, Mordred, Hunter, and Zraxin just after entering town. Dayal says, "I'm fairly sure that guy named Greyson was part of that group that helped us at that temple. Remember the one with the glowing shirt and all". And nearly everyone knows about Albian and his storytelling. Aladfar introduces his old friends to his new comrades. The human woman is introduced as Mirelle a Universal Harmony priestess. The elf woman is known as Asura Heavenstar. The disfigured one calls himself Silverleaf, a Gaean priest. The elf with the melted silver necklace goes by Danyx, and the amber haired elf goes by the name of Pol Crane.

     When Gwydeon asks, Pendran about what happened with the walls back at the Hydra's head inn, Dayal nearly falls out of his chair laughing and Pendran's face grows momentarily grim. A moment later he smiles and says, "It seems this hammer is still too powerful for me to control completely. We counted on that when we went into the other room. I swung the hammer around my head and hit the wall. As expected the hammer crashed through the wall dragging me with it. What I didn't expect was that the hammer wouldn't be stopped by all the things in its way. I went through the wall knocking the large bed sideways. I still remember the look of surprise on someone's face as the hammer ripped through half of the bed. I felt several more crashes before I found myself flying again in open air. I saw something slide off the end of the hammer... it turned out to be the lower half of a body." He shudders, "After a while I came to a crash landing in an alleyway slamming into a bunch of barrels. I passed out, but not for long as I was rudely awakened by a splash of water applied by a man in shredded and burnt clothing." He turns and looks pointedly at Torana who seems to find something very interesting in his wine glass, just barely hiding his smirk.

     When Gwydeon asks about an irritation spell, Magnus shakes his head, but Torana frowns and says, "You know I might have just the thing. Let me look around and I'll get back to you on that one."

     As the group talks and enjoys the food and drink, Torana stands up and walks over to the window and stares out. A melancholic smile plays over his lips. As the rays of the sun slant across the room a small bird alights on the windowsill and chirps brightly. His smile brightens and he rejoins the party saying, "Anyone want to see my famous glass ladder trick." At this Magnus gives a shudder.

Fin.