Being a Beacon

[Once a Fool]

Chapter Nine

The spiders were waiting for something. After the smaller Lo Chi-sized ones had attacked a few of the townsfolk, they withdrew to wait for the larger spiders to show up. It did not take long.

Most of the townsfolk could not see in the dark and had no idea what they were being attacked by. That might have been a good thing.

Ororck counted the spiders he could see. One, two, three, more than three.

Ororck stopped wasting his time counting spiders. Soon enough, they moved.

Some of them were as big as four Ororcks. Some were twice that. One was much, much bigger.

That one to avoid.

Ororck had found Khan. He was still terribly drunk, but he was still quite an inspiring warrior. At one point, he even spit fire on one of the Four-Ororck spiders. He must have had an extra potion.

Fortunately, the web did not burn much - it was far too thick. Ororck turned his attention to another Four-Ororck spider. It kept springing forward to attack and leaping back out of harm's (that is, Ororck's) way.

Ororck had already destroyed some of the Lo Chi-sized spiders; there were four sets of three in all. When they were destroyed, each spider exploded into a mist of tiny spiders, which spread out in all directions.

The very big spider (four sets of four Ororcks?) was snatching a townsperson every few seconds and the Four-by-two-Ororck spiders were doing much the same.

Through it all, the terrified townsfolk stood mostly still, lost in the darkness. They were easy prey.

Not many of the town's warriors were here; they must have been elsewhere. If Ororck fell, the townsfolk would be near defenseless.

Unfortunately, Ororck knew he was outmatched. Even this Four-Ororck spider was too difficult to handle.

As valiantly as Ororck fought, he was overcome by the spider in the end. A terrible bite ripped through half-orcish hide and unconsciousness caught up with him, even as he chuckled at the grim irony of his situation; if he had not hurt himself earlier, learning the Spider Claw technique, he would have enough strength to last a little longer, but his lesson had come at a higher cost than he could have predicted.

Mighty Ororck fell.

 

[Once a Fool]

Chapter Ten

Evangeline had saved the ones she could. Most were poisoned. Now free of the Spider Plane, as Crone called it, they would recuperate. Crone had healed more than a few, herself, calling on the Spirits of the Wood for such grace.

Crone's blind gaze pierced Evangeline. Held her.

"It is time for you to be a beacon, child. Do not wander astray, yourself. The path you have chosen is also the path that has chosen you. It is a difficult one to follow. When hope is lost, you must be hope. When all is lost, you must be something to cling to."

Enok was here now, too, but the first child he had left scarred with terrible burns ensured that the Fire God would be healing no more from the Lost Haven.

Some of the folk did not survive. The rest had to learn that they no longer had any home to return to.

Was it right not to say how it happened, if nobody asked?

The time came for Evangeline to do the most difficult thing she had ever had to do.

Sylvan's only family, his aunt, Gilded Sunlight, could not bear Evangeline's company once she heard his fate. Neither would comfort each other.

Move on. There is work to do.

Evangeline moved on.

In the following weeks, two populations started to come to terms with their situation.

Rumor spoke of civil war in the Human Cities and of refugees pressing in from the East.

Rumor spoke of the walking dead in the South and of dwarves and orcs pressing Northward.

Rumor spoke of many ills, but an elf did not have to look so far away to find trouble.

When tension seemed at its height, Crone summoned the four of them, Lo Chi, Ororck, Merv, and Evangeline. Celest was also present, looking uncharacteristically uncomfortable.

Crone spoke:

"They can stay. If the four of you retrieve for me the Eye of Illusions from the House of Phantoms, west of here, in the Heart of the Forest."

The Heart of the Forest? Whatever that was, it would have to be past the river.

Thus, Evangeline found herself saying goodbye to her parents yet again. She had seldom felt as lonely.

 

[Once a Fool]

Chapter Eleven

Crone.

What in the infernal maelstrom of elements and energy gave birth to that wench? And why couldn't she speak plainly?

Heart of the Forest. How are a bunch of bureaucratic, tree-hugging, effeminate (except for Crone) elves not going to know what the Heart of the Forest is unless it doesn't exist?

No one knew. Hence, it didn't exist.

Merv hated to embark on a mission unprepared.

"Let me borrow your grappling hook."

"No."

Lo Chi had been bugging him the entire way. Now she wanted to climb an enormous hickory; it was fifty feet up to the lowest branch.

What was wrong with that girl? She knew there were elven arrows pointed at all of them. Unseen, but there.

But she really wanted to climb that tree. Eventually, she started without any help.

Merv looked back. ten feet up; pretty good climber. Twenty; like a little gnomish monkey. Thirty; Merv started to consider what kind of booby traps he might need on a wall, just in case he ever had to defend one from the gnome. Forty feet up and...she fell.

Evangeline was at her side; Lo Chi was alive. Merv rode on. At least she was unconscious, now.

The trees were getting bigger, thinning out the undergrowth even more. This part of the forest must have been ancient, even for the elves.

Merv traveled in uncomfortable silence. His steed had been difficult to obtain; even though Merv and the elf had liberated the horses from the Lost Haven, their previous owners still claimed them. Suddenly this sorry lot of refugees had a commodity and, as quickly as that, a new power center emerged.

Merv didn't have anything to bargain with and, in the end, could only borrow the horse. Merv hated to owe something.

Sunlight glittered through the leafy rooftop for the first time since he had entered Elven lands. The trees had separated into a wide corridor, stretching on beyond the horizon.

Merv decided to wait and see if anything bad happened to the other members of the party when they entered the unnatural path. They seemed alright...

Lo Chi woke sometime before camp was set up for the night, slung over Ororck's shoulder. She was not entirely useless. At least she knew how to spice up a meal, even if she did use supernatural methods.

Merv did not like this place. Evangeline figured they should have reached the river by now, but the wooded corridor had no apparent end.

What does this Crone want with an Eye of Illusions, anyway?

Merv kept coming back to that question throughout the remainder of their journey.

The next day, their path deviated none, until, as morning waned, the corridor widened into a clearing, at the center of which, an ugly chunk of granite beckoned. It was shaped vaguely as a small house, ten foot by ten, twice as tall.

A doorway lured them in.