Part the One-Hundred Sixtieth
In which: our heroes traverse fire, and… well, isn’t fire enough?
Inside the fire, the heat is searing. Anvil takes one step forward, then another. He can feel the hair on his arms curling up and singeing. His lungs burn. Another step, and another. Anvil takes comfort from the stones beneath his feet. They are a reminder of Ketennek’s presence as much as the magic that he knows is keeping him from being burned alive. Another step and…
The fire is gone.
Anvil takes a breath. By comparison, the air is cool. He looks around and sees that the fire is not a solid column, but a ring. Like the eye of a storm, a space at the center of the roof about ten feet in diameter is untouched by the flames and heat that rage on all sides.
Reyu emerges from the fire. Then Lira, Eva. Annika and Kiara. Finally… Thatch.
“Is everyone alright?” Anvil asks.
Annika shakes her head. Lira is already casting
cure light wounds on herself, and Anvil notices she has been completely dried by her passage through the fire. Anvil heals Annika’s wounds, much to Kiara’s relief.
Reyu pauses to make a brief prayer to Ehkt.
All the adventurers reenter the flames.
The second time through is no easier. Lira grits her teeth and wills herself forward, ears full of the roaring of the flames and the pounding of her own heart. Briefly, she thinks,
I’m insane. I am walking through fire because a strange woman in the desert I just met has told me that if I do, I can ask one question of my god. I’m not sure she’s not crazy, and I’m following her.
But, she keeps walking. And with another step, she is out of the flames.
Manaal is asking her a question. “Do you need help?”
Lira stares up at the other woman. She can smell her own burnt hair like a cloud around her. She’s pretty sure that if she speaks, the skin around her mouth will crack.
Euro’s voice pokes into her consciousness.
Hey Boss, I think the answer is yes, you know?
Slowly, Lira nods.
Manaal speaks another invocation and places a hand on the young sorcerer’s forehead. Soon, Lira feels the familiar, and welcome, warmth of Ehkt’s healing energy wash over her. In seconds, her burns have vanished.
“Do any of the rest of you require assistance?” Manaal asks.
Anvil shakes his head as he casts
cure light wounds on Eva. “I will see to them. We are all fine.”
“Indeed,” says Manaal, “and you have all proved yourselves worthy. Follow me.”
Regrouped and mostly recovered, the party follows Manaal down off the roof and into the tower’s top chamber.
###
In the center of the room, Manaal has prepared a brazier filled with wood and aromatics. Her familiar touches the pile and soon it is burning merrily. Manaal then kneels and chants over the flames for some moments.
Kiara watches the fire anxiously, knowing intuitively that if something is going to happen, the flames will be its source. She knows her question, but is almost afraid to hear the answer.
She blinks. The smoke must be getting in her eyes. For a second there she thought— No, it’s not the smoke. A face has formed in the center of the flames, and it is looking back at her.
Much like the image of Alirria that appeared to the party in the
Vale of the Holy Spring, the face is indistinct. It is constantly changing, flickering and wavering like… well, fire. It is, however, clearly vibrant, a round, full face that at times seems to sport a beard, and at other times appears clean-shaven.
Manaal opens her eyes for the first time since she began chanting. “You may each ask a single question.”
Kiara is suddenly shy, and allows Reyu to ask her question first. Reyu looks steadily at the brazier as she speaks, as though there is nothing odd about addressing a fire. She asks her question:
“There is a lost one, and I feel partially responsible for her lack of direction. Should I pursue Amelia?”
At first, there is no response. Then the voice comes, rich and sonorous.
“Less ill will be found in the attempt than in not seeking her.”
Reyu steps back and Kiara feels Annika gently nudging her forward, prompting her to go next.
Kiara tries to be as confident as Reyu was, but she cannot quite keep the trace of nervous excitement out of her voice. “Will I,” she asks, “in my lifetime, meet others like me, of my race?”
The answer both pleases and surprises her.
“You are unique, but others like you, you shall encounter again.” Kiara is excited, but also puzzled. What does he mean,
again?
She does not have time to dwell on it though, for Anvil is already coming forward, and he is asking a question on her behalf. “Are any of Kiara’s kind living in the Halmae in lands that I, Anvil, know?”
This answer is simple:
“Yes.”
Annika then asks if Tor Smithson, the man her parents have found for her to marry, is a good match for her.
Again, the answer,
“Yes.”
Thatch and Eva also ask related questions. Thatch wants to know (a bit oddly, Kiara thinks), “Is the Advocates’ ultimate goal evil?”
“No more evil than the wind.”
This seems to mean something Eva who asks, “Is it still possible for me to follow both Alirria and Sedellus?”
“Both my sisters lay claim to you. What path you follow is up to you.”
Lira is last, and a hush falls over the room as the others wait to hear what question she will pose. The sorcerer swallows once, then looks straight into the fire. “Ehkt, you have set before me many challenges. Do I follow your path in a manner that is pleasing to you?”
There is a pause before the response comes.
“Yes, or my gifts would not be upon you.”
Lira lets out a long breath and settles back on her heels. Manaal nods, but the spell has clearly not yet ended. She looks to the party members. “If you would excuse me,” she says. “I will not descend for some time. If you would like to join me at prayers, come when you hear the chimes.”
The others quickly withdraw and leave her to her communion.
