After Morgan released all of the former prisoners of Gunther and Blake, he and Issa explored up the spiral stairs, looking for where Blake had stashed her dimensional bags and gear. If he were honest, Morgan was also hoping to find some treasure or clues as to who Blake had been. One of the people he rescued, a tall Shadeni man named Brel, said he’d lead some other survivors to free the women in the maternity cells.

The upper floor of the central wing was mostly unused and abandoned like the rest of the keep. Several chambers, however, had seen a lot of recent use. One large room was filled with open barrels half-full of various malodorous fluids. Alchemy paraphernalia littered the tabletops, and Morgan found a dimensional chest the size of a shoebox filled with ingredients from bales of grass, to pouches of sand, to wax-sealed boxes stuffed with fresh flower petals. There were literally hundreds of different components in the chest, and Morgan knew he’d need an expert to take stock of everything.

They also found evidence of Blake’s less than savory experiments—a cast-iron incinerator, fueled by large Energy crystals, had been built into a huge stone fireplace. Issa, out of curiosity, had sifted through some of the ashes and found fragments of tiny bones. She cursed darkly, and when Morgan put a hand on her shoulder in comfort, she’d leaned into him, blinking back tears.

They found Issa’s sword stuck into the top of a table in what must have been Blake’s bed-chamber. The room was a mess, with discarded clothing and bedding strewn on the floor and plates of half-finished meals piled on most furniture surfaces. Issa snatched up her sword, and when Morgan kicked open the big wooden linen chest, she jumped forward, grabbing her belt with her three different dimensional bags still strung on it. They found a lot of other dimensional bags filled with various camping and travel supplies. Dozens of weapons were in one of the bags, and yet another held clothing of all types. “Most of this stuff probably belongs to the people we freed.”

“You mean that you freed,” Issa replied, squeezing his arm.

“Hush, you’d have done the same.” He moved to open the big armoire in the room while Issa worked on getting dressed. When he pulled it open, piled laundry fell out at his feet, exposing a black pouch hanging from a peg on the back panel. Morgan lifted the pouch and saw the tell-tale runes of a dimensional container. He bonded with it and, as he looked within, let out a low whistle. “There’s, like, fifty thousand Energy beads in here.”

“Good! That evil bastard owes those people!” The way she said it, so matter of factly, Morgan didn’t even consider arguing. They finished ransacking the room but found little of any value, though Morgan noticed scrape marks near the legs of the large bed. He kicked the bed aside along the path of the scrape marks, and then he tapped the exposed floorboards with his sword. The third board he pressed his blade into rattled and popped up on the opposite corner.

“Not exactly a great hiding spot,” he said, kneeling to lift the loose board free. Within, he found a small, green-glass bottle with a wax-sealed cork and a plain, leather-bound journal. Watching over his shoulder, Issa bent to pick up the journal, and Morgan took out the bottle. It was heavy, filled with a liquid that made the glass warm to the touch.

“This is Blake’s journal,” Issa said, looking at the front page and then flipping slowly forward. “It details his experiments. Ancestors, Morgan! He did some vile things.” She handed him the book. “Here, I don’t want to touch it.” Morgan took the book and put it and the bottle into his storage ring.

“Alright, let’s go bring these bags of clothes and supplies to the people below, then we can share out some of Blake’s fortune.” When Issa didn’t reply right away, he slipped his sword into the ring on his belt and took her hand, leading her back down the stairs. Keiry and the people he’d sedated with the stew had come to join the rest of the survivors, and when Morgan and Issa arrived, the assembled group of huddled, naked people gave out a tremulous yet heartfelt cheer. Some people hunched behind pieces of furniture or covered themselves with their hands, yet others stood proudly, seemingly not wanting to be cowed, even after the hell they’d been through. Morgan saw that some of the gathered women were visibly pregnant. His heart ached as he looked into their wan, bruised faces, and bloodshot eyes, and he wanted to reach out to comfort them.

Morgan knew better than to start grabbing onto victims of violence, though, so he instead took the dimensional containers containing clothes and supplies and dumped them into piles in the middle of the room. All in all, there were thirty-two survivors, and six of them were pregnant women. When they started sorting through the piles of belongings, finding their own things, and putting on some clothes, Morgan was astounded to see smiles and hear laughter coming from some of them. It was amazing what a change could occur just by giving someone back a bit of their dignity.

He and Issa had no way of knowing how much of the wealth in the bag had once belonged to the kidnapped people they’d freed, so they agreed to give everyone a thousand Energy beads and an extra five hundred to the pregnant women. “I know money won’t make up for what happened to you here, but at least this might help you get back on your feet. Issa and I are traveling to Tarn’s Crossing, and we’ll be happy to escort you that way. Alternatively, my people have a new community a few days' travel from here, and I’ll be happy to give you directions. There are a lot of opportunities there for industrious people.”

“What about Lovely?” Keiry asked, glancing toward the hallway that led to the courtyard.

“That big damn bird?”

“Yes, that bird captured most of us!”

“Is it intelligent? Does it know what it was doing, or is it just a pet? Like a big cat bringing its owner a mouse?” Morgan immediately regretted his words, comparing these people to mice. When he saw the frowns and angry glares, he tried to smooth things over, “I mean, it’s clearly a dangerous creature, and I’m not saying what it did to you is harmless; I’m just trying to see if I should try to kill it or if it might just leave on its own now that Blake is dead.”

“It has a taste for people! It can’t be let free!” a stout Cadwalli man growled.

“Oh? It didn’t just grab people? It also ate them?” Issa asked.

“Well...” the Cadwalli trailed off.

“I don’t think it ever ate anyone. As wicked as Blake was, I only ever was made to cook animals, and Lovely usually ate some of each animal it brought back,” Keiry said, looking around.

“I have advanced Animal Taming,” a willowy Ghelli woman with a badly broken wing said. “I could try to communicate with it. I’m able to sense animals’ intentions a lot of the time.

“Alright, come with me,” Morgan said, and he, Issa, and the Ghelli woman moved into the hallway leading to the courtyard. “I want you to stay behind me and be ready to run, though. Don’t take any risks.”

“I won’t,” she said softly. Issa put a hand on her shoulder as they walked, and Morgan felt thankful to have her and that she hadn’t suffered more at Blake’s hands. When they opened the door to the courtyard, Morgan stepped out first and, in the darkness of night, saw the bird-moth’s big round eyes reflecting the light from the moons at him. He activated Azure Sight and looked around the courtyard, noting the broken masonry, rubble, and massive nest. Lovely sat quietly, unmoving, watching them as they stepped down onto the courtyard’s flagstones.

“We need to get closer,” the woman said.

“What’s your name?” Morgan asked, stepping forward.

“Rillia,” she responded, following close behind him. Morgan kept a hand on his sword hilt and stared at the nest, watching for any movement. The bird-moth’s big head twitched slightly as it tracked their movement, but it held its massive beak closed and didn’t stir otherwise. “I don’t sense any hostility.”

“Can you communicate with it at all?”

“I’m trying; let’s get a little closer.” When they were just ten or so paces from the nest, the huge creature uttered its “cwooo, cwooo” sound, but softly, not the triumphant trumpet it had made when it dropped off prey to Blake. “It doesn’t want to eat us. It knows the difference between people and prey.”

“You can tell that?” Issa asked, impressed.

“Yes, it’s smart, though. It knew it made Blake happy when it brought people here. I’m trying to give it the impression that Blake is gone.” Rillia concentrated on the bird for a few moments of silence, and Morgan realized he’d let his guard down when the bird suddenly leaned forward, lowering its huge beak toward Rillia, and he almost jumped out of his boots. “It’s alright; she’s trying to communicate. She wants to do something for me; she wants to please. She’s tame! She won’t be any danger to people now that Blake isn’t here to ask her to grab them.” Suddenly, Rillia stepped forward and rested a hand on the bird’s huge, gray-feathered head, right between its big round eyes. “Good girl, Lovely. That’s right; he’s gone.” She turned to Morgan and flashed him a smile that made her seem a completely different person.

“Well, I’m glad of that,” Morgan said.

“Me too,” Issa added, “I never saw her coming when she grabbed me, and I’d hate to think she’ll still be a menace to travelers.”

“She won’t be. I’m imprinting some commands right now. She’s going to avoid people and only eat holbyis and huldii.”

“Wow, that’s a cool ability.”

“He means it’s really useful,” Issa said, squeezing Morgan’s hand.

“Yeah.” He nodded.

“It is, but it took me a long time to get my taming skill this high, and not many people have a class that allows for it. I was the only Tamer in my village.” Rillia let go of Lovely’s head and turned back to the keep. “We should let the others know it’s safe. I can’t speak for everyone, but I want to get away from this place as soon as possible.” Morgan couldn’t argue with that sentiment, and they returned to the hall to give the news to the other survivors.

That night, Morgan and Issa set up camp outside the keep on the grassy area between it and the cliffside. Most of the people he’d rescued from Blake joined them, and they built a large bonfire. A few of the former captives raided the keep’s pantry before coming out, and among the supplies they found were several dozen bottles of wine. The bonfire turned into an impromptu celebration, at least among some of the people. Some were still shellshocked or clearly had mental trauma, and they sat quietly in the grass or curled up in blankets waiting for the dawn.

“Sorry I lost the tent,” Morgan said to Issa as they sat quietly, sharing a bottle of rich burgundy wine.

“You mean when you discovered me missing, you didn’t take time to pack up the tent? I’m shocked!”

“Hah, no. I almost ran poor Munch to death, to be honest. I hope they’re still where I left them, the roladii, I mean.”

“I do, also. Hopefully, Lovely doesn’t have any relatives nearby. I’ve never seen a bird like her, though. What a strange creature.”

“Maybe Blake brought her from wherever he was from. He looked human but definitely wasn’t.” Morgan described how he’d had to burn Blake before he actually died.

“If you can stomach reading it, you might find clues in his journal.” Issa shuddered and moved in closer to Morgan.

“I’ll probably give it a try at some point but not tonight. Definitely not tonight.” He lay back in the grass, pulling Issa with him, so her head rested in the crook of his arm. As he lay there looking at the stars and admiring the sister moons’ beauty, he felt her breathing grow slow and steady, and he knew she was sleeping. He tried to plan for the next part of their journey to Tarn’s Crossing, figuring it would take them a couple of days of hard riding to get there, but then he remembered his promise to let these people travel with them, and he added another two or three days to his estimate. Even knowing that, he couldn’t help feeling good—he’d gotten Issa back, had managed to rescue all of these people, and rid the world of another evil. All in all, he felt more satisfied and accomplished than he ever had back on Earth.