1

“You never really introduced yourself,” Emerson said to the bard. They had reached the small, thatched hut that the old druid called home.

“Yeah, sorry. We were in a hurry,” he replied. “The tavern owner never actually introduced me which was probably for the better. I’d rather the people back there not know who I am. I’m Auldric Hearthstone, traveling bard.” He took off his cap and did a small bow.

“Alight Auldric, I’m Emerson, this is Tram and Anna. Our injured friend is Rith, his brother Elwin and our friend Selby are carrying him,” Emerson said. “So, is that how you know this woman? As a traveling bard?”

“No, actually I was sick once when I was a child and my parents brought me to her. She healed me, so I figured she could do the same for your friend,” Auldric replied. “At least I hope she can. There isn’t much choice around here and we can’t go back to town. They’ll have the guards looking for us now.”

“You not from here though,” Emerson questioned. “That crowd didn’t like you much. And your accent, it’s different.”

“Fuck that town,” Auldric spat. “I’m loyal to the emperor Xander and when I saw that broach on your cloak, I figured you were too. I started playing songs that I knew would just piss them off. I know Golden Meadows well though and it never use to be like that. That town use to be loyal, but times have changed and not for the better.”

“So, your parents traveled and took you with them?” Anna asked. “Were they bards as well?”

“No,” Auldric took out a pipe packed some tobacco into it and lit it up with a match from a pack he had in his coat pocket. “You see, my grandfather and of course my father and uncle were all musical instrument makers in Palantine. That’s where I’m from. But in the summertime my parents would take a caravan and travel the empire selling the wares. Golden Meadows was a prime location. They sold a lot of the instruments in that city, harps, lutes, flutes. I grew up learning how to play all of them, but I wasn’t a maker myself.”

“Where are you parents now? Back in Palantine?” Emerson asked.

“No, they’re dead,” Auldric said without emotion. “Killed by imperial forces. After that I joined the rebel army, Xander’s army. Sixteenth legion.”

“Seriously?” Emerson said. “My father and brother were sixteenth legion.”

“Small world,” Auldric replied. He puffed on his pipe. “You smoke?”

“No.”

“I do though,” Selby said as he walked over to them and lit his own pipe. “So now what? You travel the roads and play in taverns and inns?”

“That’s about the size of it,” Auldric replied through a puff of smoke. “I have a talent for it, which is rare. Not everyone can play a lute, or a harp so why not share that talent and if I could make some money at it, even better.”

“But you were in the army, why not stay with it?” Emerson questioned.

“Are you kidding me?” Auldric replied. “I can’t sleep at night as it is, the things I’ve seen… the things I had to do… Let me tell you something. Never join the army. Do anything else in this world, but never join the army.”

“We’re adventurers,” Anna said proudly.

“I don’t know if that’s better or worse,” Auldric replied.

“From what we’ve experienced,” Selby said. “Probably not much better.”

“This world is crazy,” Auldric said. “And it’s run by people who are even crazier.”

2

“Lie him down here, on this mat,” The druid said to Elwin and Selby. They helped Rith down onto a woven reed mat on the dirt floor of the druid’s hut. The mat rested next to the fire pit which was in the center of the hut. A caldron hung over the bright red coals which also lit the room. Wisps of steam rose off the murky contents and up into a small hole in the top of the old, thatched hut.

It had taken an hour to find the druid, who lived on the edge of a swamp not far from the Verant River. Rith had drifted in and out of consciousness. Now reclined on the mat, he twisted fretfully. His face was pale. He coughed and blood came up staining his lips.

The druid was a middle-aged wise woman, her fiery red hair slowly going grey. The lines in her face attested to her life of experience. She put a damp cloth to his forehead. Rith was already running a fever. Her steel blue eyes creased deep with worry. She felt his pulse. It was racing.

Elwin did not think she looked all that powerful, but the bard, who eventually introduced himself as Auldric, insisted that that woman had magical powers and that she could heal the sick and injured. The long rough woven natural wool cloak that she wore to fight off the night chill looked frayed. Her long hair was frazzled and stringy. The group had roused her from sleep when they got to her hut. She still did not seem fully awake, yet she went about her task without complaint. Elwin could not be sure how old she was, maybe forty-five or fifty? He explained to her what happened to Rith. They thought his ribs might be broken and he could have internal bleeding. She nodded gravely as he explained it. Then she started sorting threw some roots and various flowers that were strung from the roof of her small hut. Only Elwin was allowed in the hut with Rith, the place was simply too small to fit them all. The druid needed some room to work so the rest were forced to wait outside until she was finished her work.

“Can you help him?” Elwin nearly begged her. His face creased with an expression of pain and remorse. He cursed himself for not doing enough to protect his brother, his only brother. He would do anything to help him now, pay any price. As it turned out that price was five gold coins which Elwin was willing to pay. He was not sure why an old woman who lived in the middle of nowhere would need money, but he thought perhaps so many herbs were hard to replace and maybe she had to buy ingredients now and then to mix her potions.

The druid absently nodded in response to Elwin’s question and spoke. “I can perform the healing ritual, but if his wounds are all internal, I can’t do much more than that. If he is favoured by the goddess, then he will heal quickly.”

“And if he isn’t?” Elwin questioned.

“Then who knows,” She shrugged. She looked Elwin in the eye, her cold steel blue ones against Elwin’s dark ones. Her voice was flat with no emotion. Her accent reminded Elwin of Levka’s. “It all depends on the seriousness of his wounds. He may recover anyway or not. Only the gods really know.”

The ritual was simple. She called upon her goddess, a natural spirit of the earth and nature. Not part of the known pantheon, but a being of light and love just the same. She chanted the spell verses in the strange language of magic that only wizards and people who study such things can understand. She sprinkled a mixture of herbs over Rith’s chest. Still more herbs were cast into the fire which causes a sudden, but brief flare of purple light. Elwin recoiled from the sudden heat that was given off.

When the ritual was finished, she applied an ointment to Rith’s pallid skin, wrapping his chest with a cold damp cloth.

“We’ll know in the morning, if he is going to live or not,” she said gravely.

Elwin emerged from the hut to the sight of concerned and anxious faces.

Anna, who had been pacing back and forth before the hut, rush up to Elwin and said. “Is he going to be alright? Please tell me she can help him!”

“She says we’ll know in the morning,” Elwin replied.

“Well, what did she do for him?” Anna persisted. “Did she cast a spell or something?”

Elwin nodded. “I think we should all get some rest. We’ve done all we can tonight.”

Elwin felt that if the spell really did work, then it would be better than any surgeon or doctor could’ve done for him. He never fully trusted magic or divine powers for that matter, but then again only those who welded such power could fully understand them. Magic was something that was beyond Elwin’s knowledge. Not that science was any better at understanding things. It was still a matter of trial and error in many cases. There was just so much in the world that was beyond the control of mere mortals. Still there were many things that could be done better using magic or other divine powers. Healing was one of those things. The chances of survival were always better if a wizard or cleric was casting a spell to heal the body, but even that was no guarantee. They would simply have to wait to see if Rith was going to get any better.

3

Rith saw colours and felt strange sensations all over his body. The trip out of Golden Meadows was a complete blur. He was unconscious for most of it. He had a vague vision of a thatched hut, but he did not know if it was a dream or reality. Rith was not sure of anything except for the excruciating pain that he felt all over his chest and stomach. He was in so much pain that he was sure that he was going to die.

Eventually he found himself laying down with strange intangible shapes looming over him. He had the coppery taste of fresh blood in his mouth. Was he dying? Was he already dead? Where was he? Was he in the real world or had he crossed the veil into the next life? Was this oblivion, paradise or was he lost somewhere in the abyss?

Nothing was making any sense. He tried to talk, but no words came out. He tried to think, but the thoughts kept slipping away from him faster that he could form them.

By the Gods! He thought. What was happening to me!

Everything began to fade away. He could feel himself slipping, His soul itself slipping into darkness, an all-encompassing darkness. It was murkier than tar, blacker than a moonless sky. He had never felt anything like it before.

Surely this is it! He thought. I must be dying! Is this what it’s supposed to be like?

Suddenly a deep red pulse filled the darkness, taking it away in fading waves of light. It was most glorious and soul lifting experience of his life. His body felt light as a feather. Strength flushed like a raging river threw his muscles and he had a strange vision of a dark pearl, the source of the pulsing light itself. It radiated with power beyond all measure. Somehow, he knew it was not dangerous. With his mind he reached out and touched it. It pulsed once more with a blinding red light that Rith experienced only in his own mind.

Suddenly he was aware of his physical body. He could feel the layer of sweat that covered him from head to toe. He felt no more pain at all. In fact, he had never felt better than he did at that moment. He opened his eyes in the darkness of a strange hut. The stench of herbs and damp earth filled him up. He bolted upright and coughed. His throat was parched.

“No, no!” A crazy old woman shouted at him. “Please, lie back down!”

His head felt heavy and filled with fog. He shook it gently as the blood rushed back into his cheeks. Ignoring the crazy woman, he stood up, bewildered.

Just what in oblivion was going on here? He thought. Then he told her. “Hey! Back off, I’m fine!”

4

The adventurers set up a small campfire just outside the druid’s hut. They wanted to be close by in case they were needed for something, anything they could do to help Rith. The boys got out their bedrolls and tried to get a bit of sleep. It was late into the night and the two moons hung high in the sky, both waxing now, but full enough to light up the clearing next to the stream where the old druid lived.

Anna could not sleep, not while Rith was in so much trouble. She would not even pretend to do so. She left her bedroll tried up and packed away. Instead, she sat next to the fire, tending to it absently. Her thought was all of Rith. How much pain was he in? Was he going to be alright? She prayed to the Fire Lord, lord of all the Verant Empire and supreme ruler of the pantheon. She prayed for Rith’s soul and for a swift recovery.

If Rith was to die, Anna felt that she would be completely lost. He was the main reason she had followed them on this trip. They were closer in age, and it bothered her that he would run off to find adventure without her. As for the others, Elwin had warmed up to her a little more, or at least he was not treating her like the plague. He made her feel more like a member of the group. Emerson was still a bit of an enigma. She did not quite get along with him and he liked to tease her, but on the other hand he was willing to let her join the group even before Elwin agreed to it. She thought that Emerson was not all bad after all. Selby was too new to the group. She did not fully understand him yet. Tram was a complete mystery. Was this Auldric Hearthstone going to become a member of the group now?

These were the thoughts that Anna was wrapped up in, sitting by the fire and poking around at it, when suddenly there was a commotion coming from the hut.

“No, no!” Anna could hear the old druid saying. “Please, lie back down!”

“I’m fine!” She clearly heard Rith reply.

Anna’s eyes went wide with excitement. She got up and made her way to the door of the hut.

“You can’t just get up like!” The druid explained. “You need to rest a bit more, for the healing to work.”

“It’s already worked!” Rith complained. Anna watched as he stood next to the fire. The colour was back in his cheeks. She was excited to see him looking normal once again. His shirt had been removed exposing his milky white flesh. He pulled at the bandages that were wrapped about him.

“That’s impossible!” The druid protested. The woman looked completely mystified that he was able to get up on his own accord. “You can’t be healed yet. The magic takes hours to work properly!”

Rith suddenly saw Anna standing in the doorway. “Oh Anna, thank the Gods! I thought I was all alone here!” He finally yanked the cloth off his chest, even as the druid tried to stop him. “Where are we and who is this mad woman?”

“Rith, by the Gods…” Anna said unable to comprehend what was happening. “You’re healed, already!”

She saw his chest. It was completely unscarred, not even a hint of a bruise was visible. How was this possible? She thought. How powerful was this woman’s magic?

The druid did not seem to understand what was going on either. She looked at Anna with a bewildered expression. Anna came into the hut trying to see better in the firelight.

“Look,” Rith said to Anna. “Can you tell this crazy woman that I’m fine!”

Rith spread his arms and spun around to show them that he had no injuries at all anymore. Then he asked her. “Where’s Elwin? Can’t we just get out of here now?”

“Rith, just sit down and relax!” Anna said to him in a soothing voice. She grabbed him by the arm and tried to pull him down next to the fire pit. “This woman is a druid, a healer. She cast a spell, to help you heal.”

The druid kept shaking her head in disbelief. “This is impossible. With his injuries, he couldn’t have healed this fast. It should have taken a day at the very least!”

It had only been an hour.

Rith said to Anna. “I don’t think this woman did anything!”

The druid eyed both with great suspicion and demanded. “Just who are you people exactly?”

5

“Allow me to read your fortune,” The druid insisted to Rith a short while later. Everyone had woken up and Elwin had spent the last half hour trying to explain to the druid who they were and where they came from, but she did not seem to believe them. Eventually she started to persist on doing a card reading for Rith, to tell his fortune or future in other words.

Rith finally relented even though he did not fully trust this woman. Elwin explained to him that the woman cast a spell to heal him, but Rith simply did not believe it. He was sure that she did nothing to help him, that she could not have done anything. His wounds were too serious. He did not know why, but he knew that a druid’s magic simply was not powerful enough to do what had been done.

So, Rith sat down at a small table next to the fire, while the old woman dug out a deck of dog-eared cards from an ancient cedar chest.

Elwin was the only other person in the hut. Their friends waited for them outside while the druid gave Rith his card reading.

She handed Rith a deck of seventy-eight cards and asked him to shuffle them. “Are you all wydring?” She asked.

Elwin shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

“What’s wydring mean?” Rith asked.

“It’s an old term from the Verant dialect,” The druid explained. “Wyd means fate or destiny. Wydring is a group of people thrown together by destiny, usually to perform some task.”

Rith finished shuffling the cards and handed them back to her.

“You mean like the groups of adventurers in the books?” Rith enquired.

“Boy,” The old woman said. “Life isn’t a story book.”

Isn’t that the truth! Elwin mused to himself.

She flipped over the first card. “The Sister Moons,” she said with a note of surprise.

It depicted two naked nymphs each sat upon their own crescent moon that faced each other.

“Is that bad?” Rith ventured nervously.

She shook her head. “No one card is good or bad. It all depends on how all the cards fit together.”

Elwin looked on sceptically. Fortune-telling was not seen as an honest craft. There was a lot of interpretation to it, so most people saw it as a bit of a joke. Levka had told him that all wizards learn fortune-telling to one degree or another, but even they were not convinced that it had any accuracy.

The druid continued. “There are twenty-two major cards in the deck. This is a powerful card. It could represent family ties and obligations. It’s also a card of family strife and conflict. Its true meaning is often that of deception, chaos and confusion. You have hidden enemies perhaps. People plotting against you or trying to use you to their own ends. Also, the Sister Moons often represent occult forces working behind the scenes.”

Rith and Elwin exchanged sceptical looks.

The druid flipped over the next card. The World. Its design was that of a green and blue patched sphere shrouded in white clouds.

The druid looked even more surprised. “Two major cards. Very unusual for the first two cards to both be Major Arcane.”

“What does that mean?” Rith questioned, his anxiety rising by degrees.

“A powerful destiny,” she said simply. “It’s the last card in the Major Arcane. It means a broader world view. It represents the understanding of mysteries and divine power. Are you a wizard?”

She stared at him suspiciously, chilling him with her cold steel eyes.

Rith shook his head.

She continued. “This is a common card to come up during a wizard’s reading. However, it can also mean moving to a new place or country. I see you are travelers so that context might make more sense. It could also mean truth and understanding at the highest levels. This is one of the most powerful cards in the deck and usually a good one.”

“Let’s see the next one,” Elwin commanded. This was getting interesting, he thought.

Her trembling hands turned the next card and she stared silently at it. The Nergal; it depicted a shadowy cloaked figure hold one arm straight up. Lightning struck the tip of his hand.

“I’ve never seen a reading like this before!” Her voice rasped. “Three Major Arcane cards are extremely rare! Only the most famous and powerful people would ever turn up three Major Arcane… and for the final card to be this one…”

She trailed off.

“What?” Rith demanded. “What does it mean!”

“At its best it means a total collapse of the world view,” She pointed to The World card. “But it is usually a very bad card.”

The druid shuttered.

Elwin and Rith exchanged nervous glances.

“It’s the card of unforeseen disaster. The usual meaning is Armageddon or genocide, it usually represents a mortal struggle to the death. Misery and distress, calamity and ruin, three major cards and this is one of them!” The druid said pointing an accusing finger at him. “Death and destruction will follow you wherever you go!”

“No… No… That’s not possible! I don’t believe it! Come on Elwin, let leave this place. This woman’s a fraud!” Rith proclaimed getting up from the table.

“The cards don’t lie!” She proclaimed with equal insistence.

Elwin head was swimming with ideas. He demanded. “No! Read my cards now!”

“No!” She exclaimed. “No more cards tonight! I want you away from my hut by morning!”

“Come Elwin, let just leave now! This woman’s mazy!” Rith persisted, grabbing his brothers’ cloak.

“No! I’m not mazy, demon!” The druid shouted. “Be gone from here!”

The two of them stormed out of the hut.

“What happened?” Auldric asked bewildered. “Is everything alright?”

Elwin looked to his brother. “He seems to be fine, no need for us to stay. Thank you for you help, Auldric but we are heading north.”

“Well, I am heading south,” Auldric said with a heavy sigh. Well met Elwin. May our paths cross again some day.”

6

They quickly packed their gear and moved a mile up the road and camped in a cold desolate place. They set up no fire, but they still kept a watch and Rith insisted that he was fine and he would take the first watch. Anna could not sleep and stayed by Rith’s side during the watch.

“What happened back in the hut?” She asked him in a whisper in case the others were only pretending to sleep.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said resentfully. He stared off into the distance. “That woman is old and crazy. I don’t believe her and neither should anyone else.”

“But how were you healed so quickly?”

“I don’t really know,” Rith replied.

They were both silent for a time. Then Rith asked. “The whole incident in Golden meadows… It’s like some strange blurry nightmare…” He shook his head trying to clear his mind. “Did I kill someone?”

Anna nodded gravely. Her hands trembles and she looked like she might cry. “They would have killed you, if they could. They would have killed all of us. You were defending yourself.”

“I’ve come to realize something. All the monsters that Selby has been telling us about, he left out the worse one of them all,” Rith said.

“What’s that?” Anna asked.

“Humans,” Rith replied. “We are the worse monsters by far.”

Rith looked away, unable to look at her. He did not want to look at anyone anymore. He did not care if he never saw another human being again.

They sat in silence until it was Selby’s turn to take watch.

7

The morning dew outlined cobwebs and collected on their tents. There was a chill in the air. The two men collectively shuttered, pulling their cloaks tightly around themselves. Elwin and Emerson sat outside the tent alone while they let the others get another hour of sleep before waking them. The sun was already rising and they squinted in the brightness.

Emerson took out the ring he had taken the night before. He examined it closely for the first time. Last night they had been in a rush. The local militia was coming. They had to move in a hurry. Now the ring glistened in the morning light. It was finely crafted. On the face of the ring was a series of eight tiny rubies that form the shape of a cup. Inside the band were the initials O.B.C.

Elwin saw him with the ring and commented on it.

“I got this from that behemoth in the tavern,” It seemed like a year ago, but it had been less than twelve hours. Emerson tossed it over to him. “The inside has some initials, have you ever seen anything like it?”

Elwin looked at it closely. This was not the kind of ring that was passed down through family. It looked like it meant something. His mother had not owned anything nearly this valuable. He shook his head. “I don’t know what to tell you. It could be the initials of someone’s name or an order of some kind. It’s hard to tell. The ruby cup is very distinctive. If we see it again somewhere and maybe we could find out more.”

“You think there might be more out there like it?” Emerson questioned.

Elwin handed the ring back. “I don’t know, but either way the ring is something of value. It could tell us who those people were. If not, it could always be hocked for coinage.”

Emerson nodded.

Elwin was intrigued, but it made him want to find out about his map even more now. The map was his quest. The ring just was not as interesting. With Verant City getting closer and funds running low, Emerson’s ring might come in handy just the same, Elwin thought.

8

Rith woke suddenly and bolted upright. He was sweating and pulled at imaginary bandages. It was a crazy nightmare he had. His dreams were filled with blood and gore. He kept seeing the shocked face of the man he killed. There was a phantom pain in his chest, but it faded quickly. Rith’s eyes began to slowly focus on reality. Rith took a very deep breath.

Elwin was quickly by his side.

Rith suddenly grabbed Elwin’s cloak and pulled him tight. His eyes looked crazy. “Last night was like some horrible nightmare! I killed someone, right!”

Elwin nodded. “You did what you had to. You wouldn’t be here, if you didn’t act. Just relax Rith, don’t push yourself too hard!”

Even though he only just came out of a dream-state, he already felt strong enough to travel. “I had strange dreams last night,” Rith related to his brother. “It was the Reaper… He was looking for me.” He shook his head, clearing it. “He came looking for me, but I was scared and hid. He couldn’t find me. It was so surreal! I thought I was dead and crossed the veil into the spirit world!”

Elwin sighed. “Rest a little longer…”

“No!” Rith said and got to his feet without stumbling. “I’m ready to go now. We have a long road ahead.”

“I know,” Elwin said wearily.

Rith smiled and joked. “Verant City is lost without us!”

Elwin laughed, shaking his head in disbelief.

They were all awake now.

“Pack up your gear,” Elwin said to them. “We’re ready to move. Verant City awaits us!”