There were more healers now, but also more wounded, so it was almost an hour before Venzik and I had our turns. Vone had joined the line before us and waited patiently off to the side a few feet while we were eating and drinking. When we were finished Venzik asked my leave to search for my other guards. “Of course.” I said. “I’m heading to the house. Some of them might have headed there. So far, we had only seen Lintok, one of Venzik’s original guards, that had served with him in Aandarvi. He had been badly injured and was sleeping behind the healers. “We’ll get Lintok home and in a proper bed. That is, if Vone will assist me.”

He nodded. “It would be an honor. Lintok fought beside me for a time. He is a brave and skilled fighter. I am certain that Kefnak smiles upon him.”

With that Venzik left and Vone and I asked some attendants to help us get Lintok upright and in between us with an arm over each of our shoulders. It probably looked like two pretty drunk guys helping their really drunk friend home, but we made it. “Thank the gods you only live a few blocks from the healers’ area. I do not know if we could have gotten him any father.” Vone said as we knocked on the door. Mibun and Burdor opened it, weapons drawn, but sheathed them quickly and took Lintok from us.

“He was injured quite severely.” Vone said.

“But he was healed by a Cindremic priest so he just needs rest now.” I added. Lintok was snoring, which backed up my story.

Burdor snorted. “Really? He needs sleep? I would never have guessed.” That was fair, since he slept the whole way home. Vone and I laughed, then headed for the kitchen. There was bread and preserves there, and ale, so we made do until Venzik returned. He didn’t look very happy. “Who did we lose?”

Venzik grabbed a mug and the pitcher of ale, pouring himself a full measure. He drank it all down before sitting at the table. “We lost three, Nelrania, Belnik and Shaneck. The others are in line for healing. They’ll be here soon.”

Shaneck was Venzik’s cousin. I reached out to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Venzik. At least they were lost to a purpose. Keeping the drants out of the city saved a lot of people.”

He nodded and poured himself some more ale. “That is true. Shaneck would be proud of that. He was a good boy.” He sighed. “My aunt will need to be informed. He was her youngest. I will need tomorrow off to deal with everything, if you can spare me.”

“Of course. Take all the time you need. With the Kathaldi gone I should be able to survive for one day without you.”

Venzik nodded and just kept drinking.

Eventually the awkward silence got to me and I turned to Vone. “I think it’s about time for me to head to the office but I’m going to take a quick nap first. If you want to come with me, you can rest in one of the guest rooms.”

“That would be nice. That last healing really tired me out. If I had to fight someone right now I would shame myself, and Kefnak. I bet even you could outfight me at this moment, Dirk.” He started laughing.

“I’ve missed your sense of humor, old friend.” I said, even though I hadn’t. I’m just incredibly polite to my guests.

After a short nap both Vone and I felt almost like our normal selves. Venzik was drunk and ignoring everybody else so I chose to only take two guards with me to the office, Grabnik and Celerith. One dwarf and one elf. Symmetry. With the Kathaldi all gone what could go wrong? Plus, I had Vone with me. I changed into some fancy new clothes more appropriate for the office and we were off. We stopped for a quick dinner at a tavern along the way and Vone and I reminisced over some more ale. I was feeling pretty good until we got closer to the palace compound. I was not looking forward to returning to the place I had spent so much time with Jade at, let alone the room where she had died. I resolved to put it out of my mind so, of course, it was all I could think about as we made our way to the front door to the suite of offices. Celerith opened the door and started to walk in but stopped. I immediately started to draw my sword, assuming that meant trouble but when Celerith turned back he was smiling. And definitely not dead. “I think you should see this, sir.”