Damarys ran, her heart thumping and her head pounding. That thing was still in her head, filling her mind with knowledge she didn’t want. It was like having memories seared into her mind by an uncaring branding iron. She wanted to bang her head against the stone walls, if only that would actually do any good. She could almost see the strange stairs, ascending upwards into the heavens where she could become a goddess. There was a set of scales, filled with the blood of dead gods that she would need to drink from first, empowering her and making the journey up the stairs a possibility. Since there were no other gods in the heavens, she wouldn’t need to fight to claim her place there.

Kasyn and Zeter were right behind her, all three of them crying out wordlessly from the mental assault. It took her a moment to realize she was back in the chapel, doubled over from running into the back of a pew, and gasping for breath.

Ascend

It was a final parting word from the being they’d met and the pain inside her head eased.

Zeter, still weakened from all the spell casting he’d done against the fiends, collapsed to the floor, vomiting and convulsing.

“Keep him on his side so he doesn’t choke,” Damarys instructed as she and Kasyn held Zeter until he could regain control of his faculties again.

“Are you alright?”

One of the survivors here approached carefully, waving for some others to go get help. It took some time for Zeter to come around after his fit.

“I think I need to have a word with that old man,” Zeter groaned.

“I’m sorry,” the survivor helping care for Zeter said. “but he died shortly after you three left him. His plant withered away and he just sort of collapsed.”

“I could probably get a few answers out of him, dead or not,” Kasyn said. “As long as he didn’t wander off too far or sink into the earth after being reanimated.”

“He didn’t reanimate,” the survivor answered him. “He just turned to dust, along with his plant.”

“Never mind on that idea, then,” Zeter sighed, lying his head back and rubbing his eyes.

“Alright, well, we still need to get these people to Autay Wa,” Damarys pointed out. “And we need to find out what fiends know about this merchant who’s been kidnapping people. Hopefully we can find them and get Jelvaic and Arjana back sooner rather than later.”

“We might even get some of the other missing people back, too,” Kasyn added, though Damarys didn’t think that very likely. A merchant who kidnapped people wasn’t likely to want to hold onto that sort of ware for long. It also raised all sorts of questions about with whom this sort of merchant worked with that were buying their goods.

“How’re we going to get there?” Zeter asked. “The carpet’s destroyed.”

“The fiends could fly us over,” Kasyn replied, “but I think I saw a few boats at the docks on this side. We could just row across.”

“Is it safe?” Damarys asked.

“I don’t feel any other runes that need to be repaired here,” Kasyn shrugged.

“We’ll test it out, with a few fiends on standby to pick us up if the lake guardian gets upset,” Damarys said.

The others agreed and they began making their way out towards the docks. The survivors were more than happy to be leaving. Their supplies had already been running low and were having to ration their food.

When they reached the docks, Damarys settled herself into one of the boats, bracing herself in case she needed to leap away. Nothing happened. Kasyn joined her in the boat and sat down. Nothing happened. They each took an oar in hand and began to row. Nothing happened.

“I think it’s safe,” Damarys called to the shore as she and Kasyn returned to the docks.

There was almost enough room in the boats for everyone. Those who didn’t fit in the boats were carried by the fiends and they were soon across the lake. The sailors in the merchant ships were overjoyed to hear they could set sail once again and got to work preparing their ship.

While everyone unloaded from the row boats, Damarys approached a group of fiends.

“I need a way to contact the merchant who took Jelvaic and Arjana,” she said.

The fiends glowered but couldn’t disobey.

“Here,” one of them said, handing her a piece of folded parchment that bore a wax seal. “Break the seal and you’ll be able to contact her.”

“Her?”

The fiend nodded.

“Is she still in Autay Wa?”

“I don’t know, but I would assume so. It is her base of operations.”

“Do you have more of these?”

“No, that is the last of them.”

“Alright, then,” she turned to face the crowd of people and raised her voice slightly, “Let’s get moving. Once we’re in Autay Wa we can get you settled. For those who already have a home in Autay Wa you’re free to return to them. The rest of you will be assigned one. If your home was here in Ichiba Wa, you can return to it once we’re sure it’s safe.”

A litter was constructed for Zeter since he was still too weak to go far on his own. The rest of them were in good enough shape that they only had to stop a few times to let them rest. When they reached the gate, the earth elemental rolled around them, sprouting fruits that they all plucked and ate. Damarys wasn’t that hungry but the fruit was a welcomed treat nonetheless. She suspected there was even some magic in them because Zeter perked up quite a bit more after eating one of them.

When they reached the converted barn where Jelvaic would normally be running things, they were greeted by his assistants instead. It took a few minutes to explain everything but the assistants were competent in their own right and took the people inside to begin assessing them for work projects as well as getting them housed.

Damarys and Kasyn carried Zeter into the medical building so the healers could look after him and then the two of them found a quiet space where they could plan out their next move.

“We can contact this merchant, but I doubt she’ll just tell us who she is,” Damarys turned the sealed parchment over in her hands.

“Agreed,” Kasyn nodded. “I might be able to trace the magic, though, if you can keep her talking long enough.”

“How much time would you need?”

“I don’t know. It depends on how strong the magic is and whether or not she’s warded herself in some way.”

“Considering her line of work, I’d assume she’s pretty well protected.”

“Zeter would probably be better at this sort of thing than me.”

“We’d have to wait a couple days at least before he’ll be able to help us.”

“What about Ketty Pordis?” Kasyn looked distinctly uncomfortable as he made the suggestion.

“She could probably help, and I don’t see any problem with asking her.”

“I’m sure she’d love to get her hands on that, though,” he pointed to the parchment. “As well as figure out how this merchant is hiding herself from Akumu.”

That was a fair point. The more Damarys learned about the Sages of the Mercurial Robe, the more she realized how much of their efforts were focused on circumventing Akumu’s guards.

“I’m sorry, Kasyn, but I don’t think we should rely on me keeping the merchant talking, so we either wait a few days for Zeter or we go to Ketty.”

He nodded again and bit his lip, thinking.

“The city needs Jelvaic and Arjana,” he said at last, “and we don’t know how much longer this merchant will hold onto either of them.”

“So, Ketty?”

“Ketty,” Kasyn agreed. “But she doesn’t get to handle the seal or anything else. She just helps us track down the merchant.”

“Okay, let’s go then.”

With that, they got up and went in search of Ketty Pordis in the hopes that she wouldn’t be too difficult to persuade.