The group gathered their belongings, retrieved the horses from the stables, and met outside the keep. Jyothki was there, looking much more pleased with her day than most of the others looked with their day. Once outside the keep, they waited for Lasiar, who didn't appear for about two hours.
Azrun checked to make sure that Jyothki was ok and how her day had progressed. He then told her what had happened inside.
Jyothki listened intently to Azrun as he recounted what had transpired in the keep. She was silent for a moment before addressing him. "I suppose I am too much of the forest to understand your displeasure with this man. Is he not doing what he can to address the situation? What did you believe him to be keeping from you?"
Azrun sat down next to Aloysius, "Aloysius.....to tell you the truth, I wanted to do what you did in there. That man in there is the lord of this area. That means he is to get respect from everyone in it, especially when they are guests of his own house. Now, I'm not saying he deserves it. I believe respect is earned not given with a title. What I believe is not always so. That man owes it to the people of this land to make sure they are safe. I'm not sure that he cares. I just wanted you to know that, maybe it'll make you feel a little better. So buck up, pal." He smiled at Aloysius then stood to let the mage have some time to himself.
Lasiar appeared flustered when he arrived, and without a word to his friends, he stepped past them and headed off for Thurmaster.
Azrun looked at Lasiar as he walked by and smiled, "I can just tell by your expression that you learned all sorts of things during your meeting."
Lasiar huffed derisively. "I could have learned more talking to a rock."
When Lasiar finally arrived, they set off for Thurmaster again. They had traveled about half of the distance back to the little village when they noticed the road had been heavily traveled since they passed through the day before. Several wagons, possibly a caravan, had been through, likely joining the larger, easier road from some of the smaller paths that led from the moor.
A rider on a large brown horse approached from the direction of the keep. He hailed them from a distance, and when he rode close enough for them to see, they realized it was Lytern, now girded with a sword and wearing leather armor. He looked so excited that it was amazing that he was managing to stay in the saddle. "I think I can help you," he announced, "if you'll let me come with you."
"Lytern," Jana said in a neutral voice, "does Lord Parlfray know you're here?"
Amusement flickered in Lasiar's eyes as his gaze darted from Jana to Lytern. "I must also express my concerns about your sudden desire to help us," Lasiar added in a tone of mock seriousness, his lips curled in a hint of a smile. "Your father was quite adamant that he could not provide us any aid. How do you suppose you could provide that which he could not?"
Aloysius had remained extremely introverted after his "discussion" with Azrun. He appeared at the gates ready to leave with his head down and a listfullness about his gait.
As Lytern approached and was addressed by Jana and Lasiar, Aloysius simply stood by the side of the road, a look of deep sadness etched on his face. His pack hung heavily on his shoulders, and even his hat seemed to be drooping under some unseen weight.
Azrun looked at Lasiar then to Lytern, "Well, first off Lasiar, he's willing to help. He's here. Second, I would imagine he may know more that goes on around here that his father does. He was very eager to speak with us the first night we were here. I'd imagine he hears a lot that goes on. Am I correct, Lytern? Third, travelling with the son of the Lord of the land may get us places and things we couldn't before. I for one welcome his assistance."
*"I must object."* the ranger said, *"He is little more than a boy, and Lord Parlfray will certainly not look on our group or it's cause with any more favor if his son is gutted by an orc while traveling with us. I, for one, will not take the man-child out to play hero while Ranchefus and his men still lurk in the region. Three we have lost already, two to the foul priest and another by our own foolish acts, I have no desire to lose another."*
Jyothki took Azrun's arm and led him close to kaileer. "I believe there has been enough dissention today, and you should resolve this in some more amicable way." She took Kaileer's arm as well. "Azrun, your thoughts may not be complete my friend. How can this boy help? If he knew anything important, would he not already have told you in an effort to prove his worth?" She stopped abruptly, regarding the boy agian.
*"Dissention perhaps, but as I have seen, the Thornwood is no place for children. I dare say he'd wet his breeches coming across Oleanne and her wolves, there would be little good it having him come with us against such an evil as Ranchefus. Even I felt my blood run cold when he invoked his dark patron..."* the ranger said with a look at Azrun.
Azrun looked at Kaileer as he shook his head, *"You would judge his courage and skill just upon his age. He's not much younger than me, Kaileer. Course, you have shown to much kindness toward me either. Not all of us have the extended life span of the elves. We humans have to do what we can in the little time we are given. I'm not going to stop the lord's son from travelling in his own lands."*
"You are wise to have caution," Jyothki said, to Kaileer as she nodded her approval. "This is the nobles' son? May he not be sent by his father to keep track of your movements?" Jyothki looked at the boy in question and smiled brightly at him. "You have spinach stuck in your teeth," she said to the boy sweetly while subtly squeezing Azrun and Kaileer on the arm. "And your feet are on fire."
The ranger's grim look faded and he cracked a slight smile as he looked down at Jyothki, *"Have a care you do not enchant the poor boy and give credence to man's legends of the wicked elves of the deep woods."* The smile vanished and he looked back up at Azrun. *"Surely you have heard such tales."*
Azrun turned away from Kaileer.
Jyothki looked truly puzzled. "The only tales I have ever heard tell like that regard the beautiful dryads of the woods." She flushed, and continued softly. "It is said that the beauty of a dryad is so great that men who see her naked go blind. But they are not evil...or dark. They are merely tree spirits, protecting the forest from those who would harm it."
*"Yes, but as my master used to say, elves and men see the world through different eyes. What one considers evil might not be evil to the other."*
Jana waited impatiently during the Elvish conversation, muttering under her breath.
A loud barrage of coughing came from the cowl that Echo had pulled over her head again. She muttered something mostly unintelligble.
Jana turned to Azrun. "Oh, that's clever," she sneered. "Lord Parlfray won't mind this at all." She snorted in disgust and added, "Since what you want is the only damned thing that matters, after all, he'll be ecstatic that his son and heir is traipsing around in our dubious care. Not to mention that it might not be the safest damned thing for Lytern to be doing."
"I agree with your perceptions, Azrun, yet I feel some reservations with allowing young Lytern to aid us. He appears a trustworthy lad, and under normal circumstances, I will gladly have him by our side. But you must consider the danger we are facing from both the flinds, and Cyricists. Don't forget Lord Parlfray's ire when he discovers his son's disappearance."
The ranger looked back with an annoyed glance at the coughing Echo. He then gently pulled his arm away from Jyothki and walked away from the party towards Thurmaster, stopping several yards from the party and kneeled to inspect the road. After a few moments he stood and looked up at the horizon and the clouds.
Lytern seemed absolutely mesmorized by Jyothki's smile. He dismounted his horse and bowed his head to her, "I'm sorry, ma'am. I have yet to learn the speech of the elves."
Lasiar waited patiently as Azrun translated. "We have 2 against allowing the boy to accompany us." Only a year or two older than Lytern himself, it never crossed Lasiar's mind that it sounded absurd for him to address Lytern as "boy".
Lasiar glanced at Azrun, then at Jana. "I suppose we should check out that place. Or should we wait for Gala to rejoin us?" He ventured a glance at Aloysius.
"I tried to help you last night," Lytern remarked in response to some of the others. "I had hoped that your meeting with my father would go better than it did. The tales you tell are disturbing," he said, although he looked more exuberant than disturbed, "and bad for the people here. My father doesn't know I'm here," he admitted to Jana somewhat sheepishly, "but I can't sit in the keep under a nursemaid's skirts my whole life. I'll be Lord here in a few years. The first Lord Parlfray in this area destroyed the priest of Myrkul and his assasins in the Gleaming Glade...it's in my blood to slay evil priests!" At this point, even Lytern realized that his excitement was a little too much and calmed down some. "I know a place where this priest might be hiding. I can lead you there."
He returned his gaze to Jyothki but when he noticed her hands on Azrun's and Kaileer's arms, he looked away.
"Hmmm... a bit ambitious, arent ya?" Lasiar quipped, his eyes sparkling of mischief.
"Not a chance in hell," Jana replied evenly. "No way am I going to be responsible for your safety. Tell us how to get to this place and we'll check into it. You can't come, and you damned well know it. Your father will send out troops to search for you when he realized you're missing. He'll blame us if we don't take you back, and that, I can damned well do without." Jana glanced at the sky and concluded, "You'll stay with us until dawn, then you'll go back."
"I agree with Azrun, the boy's got to learn sometime and he may be of aid. I assume you know how to use that thing." Blacky said indicating Lytern's sword. "Besides, if we send him back, he'll likely try to find our evil priest on his own."
Azrun looked up to Jana, "What do you care? You might be able to get money out of all of this Jana. That's all you care about, isn't it? Tell you what, why don't you ride back to Palfray's keep. Tell him that Azrun Darkwalker has kidnapped his son. Maybe you get some damn gold out of that."
Jana flinched as if she'd been slapped. After a moment, she said in a soft, even voice, "Yeah, that's all I care about." She turned away from Azrun and moved back to her horse. She began to check the saddle and adjusted the bags for riding.
Aloysius stood quietly as the others spoke with Lytern and then haggled amongst themselves. As the banter between Azrun, Kaileer, and Jana became more heated, Aloysius bowed his head sadly and slowly began to shuffle off in the direction of Thurmaster.
Lasiar noticed the mage's departure, walked briskly to his side and touched him gently on the arm, pulling him back. "Aloysius, what is bothering you, my friend? Do you need to talk? I am always here for you. I'm a really good listener." Lasiar smiled.
Aloysius stopped walking and glanced at Lasiar briefly. Then, he looked back at the others and listened somberly as Azrun, Kaileer, and Jana swapped compliments with one another. Wearily shaking his head, the mage looked back at Lasiar.
"Discord," he muttered softly, "always has it been my shadow. Look at us Brightmantle, we be standing on a path with no crossroads and still cannot determine a course without bickering. This be the fault of Stargazer. Throughout my journeys, those with whom I travel end up at one another's throat. This be my curse. I'm going to find out about Galaret. Walk with me at thine own peril."
Without awaiting Lasiar's response, Aloysius started down the road towards Thurmaster once again.
Lasiar appeared quite agitated and flustered as he admonished the party, but he became calmer near the end of his little speech. His glare became a gentle gaze when he settled his eyes on Aloysius. "My friend, do not despair. Fault cannot be placed on your shoulders for the disputes of others. Each of us has made mistakes, some more than others. Are we all cursed? No, my friend. The contention of opinions is quite normal, and until weapons are actually drawn, there is nothing to be worried about." Lasiar smiled warmly at the mage.
Aloysius moved past Lasiar. "Thou doth not know me well enough to say such things, Lasiar. And thou hast an odd notion of comradery."
"My father's guards know that I left," Lytern told Jana. "They are loyal to him, but they also know that if I am going to be Lord after him, I need to get to know the people of the land and learn to make it without him babying me. The guards will look for me when he tells them too, and if they find me, they will take me home," he shrugged. "That doesn't have to go badly for you. It's not like you _kidnapped_ me," he said with a pointed look at Azrun. "And I can't tell you how to find the place. Not even the Lord's son is above the law on my father's lands." He sounded much more adult now that he had earlier.
"You will not have to be responsible for my safety. I am young, but not much younger than you. I am trained in the use of the long sword, the long bow, and the lance, although that won't be very useful here. I'd be happy to spar with you if you doubt me," his earlier excitement started to creep back into his voice.
Lasiar looked at each of his comrades, in turn. "It is my belief that our priority is to reach Thurmaster as soon as possible, check on Gala, inform them of young Lytern's proposal, then as a group, investigate the place Lytern spoke of." Lasiar glanced at Lytern. "How far is this place from Thurmaster?"
Echo continued to cough in spite of Kaileer's annoyed look, which she probably hadn't seen anyway. In fact, she coughed through the better part of the various conversations. Finally, she pushed her cowl back and took a long draught from her waterskin.
Azrun looked to Echo, "What is it?"
"What is it?" Echo wheezed. "Allergies, I think. I'll be okay in a minute."
Azrun looked to the group and Lytern, "I'm going to Thurmaster. Lytern is welcome to come with me. If you all don't want anything to do with it, then fine we'll travel seperately and you all can do your own thing." He translated it in Elven to Jyothki and bowed to her *"Good Journeys, fair one." He gripped his staff and then turned to continue down the road.
"If Azrun want take boy die fight Ranchefus, Azrun be fool." the ranger said as he walked back to the party. "We not go play game," he then said to Lytern, "it be much danger. We need go Thurmaster now, if you not go home now, maybe you not go home alive."
Azrun looked over his shoulder to Kaileer, *"Better to be the fool, than the jackass, Kaileer."
Arachne had been sitting on Puddlejumper, admiring the lovely sunset and deepening gloaming while the discussion that Lytern fomented broke out. At length, she sighed and climbed down from the horse. "Seems to me that we're all capable of behaving youthfully and immaturely," she remarked. "Not least me. Well, I suppose you haven't," she added to Blacky. "But that's likely only a small comfort. And if we were concerned before to treat the Lord of Thurmaster with the respect due to his position, it seems to me that we ought now to be similarly respectful toward the heir of Lord Parlfray."
Going to Lytern, she curtseyed before him. "Well met, Sir Lytern, son of Lord Parlfray," she said formally. "Since these are the lands of your prospective domain, they are yours to ride through or not as you see fit. I expect that you will do what pleases you. That is, after all, what all of us tend to do. If you accompany us, I shall be content with your company. If you choose not to, I shall understand the prudence of that decision also. We have, I think, warned you about the danger which we believe has focussed on us. Since I think you now know at least as much about these matters as we do, I believe you are now at least as competent to make your own decision as we are. If you choose to help, I at least will be grateful for your effort. And I can only hope that our involvement in any issues you have with your father will be kept to a minimum. But that's the way it goes," she shrugged, seeming to shuck the formal tone. "We opened ourselves to that possibility when we came here trying to involve him in the evils we'd uncovered." She tilted her head and smiled up at the young lord. "So what makes you think an evil priest would hide out in this special place you know of?"
Lasiar walked briskly to the fore of the group, passed Azrun and passed Aloysius. He turned around, and spread his arms to barr anyone else from passing him. He squared his shoulders and glared sternly at them. "By Selune, enough is enough. I will not tolerate any more dissension from you people. I had thought surviving through several battles, including one against a Strifeleader led group, would create some comradery among you. We've lost so many friends already, but you are still bickering over a simple matter. Granted, we each believe that our opinion is right, but could not the others be as correct? If we are to remain as a party, we need to be more understanding, and speak at a more reasonable tone. Suggest, not Command. Speak freely, but with reason."
"BAH! Azrun not have reason!" the ranger said accusingly, "From first he be trouble. He not go with us when we leave Thurmaster, then leave trail lead orc to us. He stay out cave when we go in talk Goblin, he kill prisoner know where be Ranchefus, now Azrun want take boy in danger. Azrun be fool, coward AND jackass."
Azrun looked at Kaileer, he was quite unimpressed, "Tell me how you really feel Kaileer..... Let's see Torro stayed with me in Thurmaster, but oops you can't blame him cause he's DEAD!!! Oleanne led us to you when the orcs attacked, I stayed out to keep Maisar company at the goblin cave.......The only thing I have to apologize for in my opinion is the fact I killed that bandit, who was involved with killing Torro."
Azrun looked down at the ground and spit, "As far as you calling me a fool, coward, and jackass, I don't care. That's your opinion and that's what I think of it." He turned and walked on.
Jana looked over from preparing her horse for riding. "Just shut up," she said, her voice starting out quiet but rising in volume and pitch. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" She turned back to her horse, leaning against him, one arm over the saddle. She rested her head on her outstretched arm and took several ragged breaths.
"Am I going to have to separate you two?" Blacky says in an exhausted parental tone as he stops in the middle of the road.
Azrun looked up at Blacky as he walked by, "Nope, I think he's already done that."
"Instead of standing in the road trying to decide, why don't we move on to Thurmaster and check on Gala. I see no problem with Lytern accompanying us to his father's protectorate. We can dicuss the matter at length after we get to our destination and I would like to find out why so many recently traveled this road." Blacky said and began following Aloysius toward Thurmaster, muttering something about "damn kids" under his breath.
"Well, that's a start," Arachne replied. She glanced around, realizing that the discussion of the others was no longer focussed on Lytern. "Give me a moment, would you?" She ran back to Puddlejumper and climbed up the horse onto the saddle. She then asked Puddlejumper as nicely as she could to please go over and accompany Lytern.
Leaning over to Lytern, she resumed her soft-voiced, confusing explanation: "I think we'll be going on to Thurmaster now. We _are_ all a little concerned for Gala and want to make sure she's all right. You might feel, watching this much dispute, that you'd be better off going adventuring without us. But I don't think that that's the right conclusion to draw. Rather, you're seeing some of the frustration and, well, arrogance of a number of people who are very skilled and talented and know it, but are nonetheless having a very difficult time pinning down and eradicating the wickedness that seems to be going on around here. See Aloysius, the wizard shuffling down the road? He's a very good wizard, very talented. It's people he's not too good at. And the elf who's furious at Azrun -- no, not her. The other elf. Hello?
"The elf. Kaileer. He's a very good woodsman and tracker but is quick and harsh with his opinion what's right and what's wrong. In part, that's likely a language problem, but it rubs others nonetheless. And Jana, with her horse. Don't doubt that she could teach you a lot about handling your weapons. Just don't expect her to be a patient instructor.
And the priest, Lasiar, who's trying to coax everyone into contrition and cooperative behavior. He's a very spiritual man and deeply moral. I can't stand him myself, but that's probably because I'm such a deeply flawed person." She smiled, clearly not really believing that. "We're good," she told the lord's son. "We're talented and we know it. And when real fights with really threatening enemies break out, we stop the sniping and help each other fully. We're just still figuring it all out about one another. And there's the problem that if we really get to like someone, bad guys come along and kill him. That is --" She stopped, unable to come up with words. "That is something you don't want to know," she finally decided lamely. "So tell me about something else. What makes a hiding place a good one for a Cyricist priest and a bunch of minions? Does it have good access to water? And are you already thinking up some half-baked plan to do something crazy and heroic that will impress Jyothki?" Arachne sighed. "I hope not."
Lytern gave Jyothki a puppy dog look and shook his head, "Of course not." He looked around at the bickering group with a worried expression but answered Arachne question, "It makes a good hiding place because, aside from dumb luck, there are few people in my father's lands who could find it and even fewer who would be willing to help you find it. The group of you might find it on your own, but it would take a long time."
"Hence, your confidence that you could lead us to this place but not tell us where to find it," Arachne said. "That's fine." She gazed down the road at the disappearing wizard. "And I feel sure that come the morrow in Thurmaster, we'll be debating whether to go to this hiding place, or wherever it was that Kuiper got into more trouble than he bargained for, or perhaps the lake north of Milborne. If Kuiper is fit to travel, he may want to go home; we might feel that we should escort him there. Some of us may still feel that you should be escorted home. And, if anything _has_ happened to Gala, I expect that we'll all be agreed about wanting to do something about that first. But we'll have to thrash out what, exactly, we should do."
Arachne glanced at Lytern. "Planning by fiat is quicker," she admitted. "When your father tells his men where to go and what to do, the matter is decided in moments. And it may look calmer, too, though that may be due to masking, if the decisions taken were, in fact, doubtful ones. But we won't work that way. We're all too respectful of ourselves to grant that much deference to someone else --" She paused to consider. "Unless you think that the priests in our group are that deferential to their gods. That's debatable, though: Whether priests are truly enservicing themselves to the power of another or only to their idea of another's power..."
The gnome shook her head. "Where was I? The arguing, yes. You know, Lytern, it's not a completely bad thing. It just looks ugly if you were expecting to find a basketful of smoothly purring kittens. But what we have here is a group of people whose respect for one another is growing enough that they're becoming concerned that the rest see them as, well, heroic. Maybe heroic isn't the right word. Important. Meaningful. Worth listening to -- unlike me." She smiled at Lord Parlfray's son. "Yes, maybe that's hokum. Maybe we are just a quarrelsome bunch. It's hard to know for sure what to think -- and perhaps that's the important point." She grinned. "Stick with me, m'lad, and I'll soon have you questioning the whole notion of property and ownership. And are you sure you want to be lord of the manor. After all, the night is young."
