Impresk - Alturiak, 1377

The elf wizard heard Eddick's shout and turned, carrying his precious cargo toward the sound. He knew they were being watched, but while his hands were full he could do nothing for it. In time however, the scryer would be the scryed and Therogeon would find out who attacked his town and his family. For now though, the only thought in his head was to get help for Ashara.

As the arriving grassmen stooped to pick up Elric, Therogeon walked into view. The fog was a good idea on Eddicks part, as it should help mask them from most scrying spells depending on how thick it got. He also had one trick left up his sleeve. He knew they had gotten extremely lucky tonight. With the possible exception of Elric, none of the Champions who lived in town were prepared for an attack. By sheer will of Lathander, Mystra, and the nature of Nature that Eddick served, the attackers were few and ill prepared for them.

"Hold my friend....Eddick, Ashara needs your help. Shes taken some serious wounds and I believe has some type of poisen in her." Carefully he set his sister down next to Elric so the greived woman could see her husband was alright. As he stood, a flying half-elf nearly tackled him in a feirce embrace. Which of course, caused the wound in his own chest to start throbbing again. With a wince he wrapped his arms around Almara and whispered, "I'm alright love....".

When she felt him wince, Almara pulled back, looked at him and gasped. "Alright you are not....." Her hands found the gash cut deep into his chest and as she looked up into his eyes she noticed the stain on his chin where the blood he had coughed up had dried. Tears formed in her eyes as she realized excately how close he had come to dying and she whispered, "Master...."

Therogeon smiled softly at her. Leaning forward he gently kissed her forhead. "A deep wound yes, but I've taken worse...Believe me, I will survive." So saying he looked to where Dhala was weeping over Tarpin. The pain of losing someone in your order, someone you commanded would never be something Therogeon would get used to.

Slowly he walked over to her and kneeled beside her, a hand comfortingly resting on his shoulder. She looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy from crying and in a voice choked with sorrow said, "Master.....he was my best friend...please....no..."

"Shhh my child, rest easy. Tarpin was a good man, is a good man. If he wishes to come back, we will bring him back." At Therogeon's words a light shone brightly within Dhala's eyes. Therogeon continued, "But....if he doesn't want to come back, we will take solace in the knowledge that he is in Dweomer Home with our goddess and we will honor his memory and his life. Death is not an end my daughter, mearly another step in a great journey. All who walk this journey must take this step at some point, but again no one truely takes it alone. Have faith, for though our Lady is one of mysteries, this is one she does not keep secret from us." Dhala wept then, silent and leaning into Therogeon's shoulder, hopefull and yet comforted by the wizards words.

Almara kneeled down next to them and took Therogeon's hand in hers, smiling at her love while giving it a soft squeeze. She wouldn't pressure him on it, but as soon as Ashara was healed one of them -would- be healing Therogeon, no matter how much he protested.

Through her tears she saw Eddick standing among a group of grassmen. It had to be the druid, for he was the only being she knew who could command such creatures! He couldn't have arrived in town at a more fortuitous time!

When Therogeon neared the body of her husband, Ashara cried out in shock. So much blood! He and the ground beneath him were soaked in it! Her friend sat her down next to Elric and she collapsed onto him, searching his body frantically with her torn hand to try to find any wounds that might have been missed.

Finding none, and tasting no poison in the blood, she laid her head gently on Elric's chest and was relieved to hear the strong heartbeat she'd come to know as well as her own.

Ashara rested there a moment, before turning tear-reddened eyes up to the old druid.

"Eddick... Thank you..."

The old druid reached over and lightly touched her hand. "I'm always willing to help out where I'm needed." He smiled a greeting and prepared the first of his healing spells. "Now hold still."

The first spell healed her injuries, mended her hand and her shoulder popped back to where it should have been. Eddick was still unused to this power, and the extent of her wounds unnerved him slightly. He finally understood the look on Ashara's face as she healed others, a sympathetic look. He followed it up with a poison neutralizing spell, that cleansed her body of whatever toxins were introduced.

Eddick smiled again, looking over his handiwork. The mending was complete, but there was still a loss of blood that would have to build back up. But otherwise a complete fix. After Ashara was back on her feet with her ability to bring back the dead, he had no doubt that they would have lost nothing except some time, and gained wisdom. Then they would track down the "mastermind" of this operation and finish the fight. It had been a while since one of their meetings had been this exciting. He wondered if Kaber would come.

Ripples undulated over the thick, crimson liquid after being disturbed by a sausage-like finger, thus ending the spell.

The large man sat back from the table to lean heavily into his chair, gazing unseeing at the drab trappings of the room he was renting. After a moment of processing, he ran a hand over his greasy, hairless scalp and sighed.

It was a shame that his hirelings couldn't manage to complete even one facet of their mission, but in truth he hardly expected them to. In death they had completed their job's true intention, which was to draw out the Champions while he watched and learned more about their abilities, defenses and potential weaknesses. The priest also had a few other surprises planned in the face of the doppelgangers failure. His servant was already on his way, and perhaps he would find more success there. Well, that was his hope. His associate had other plans. To draw them out for a more specific purpose! The one Champion in particular was of interest to him.

For his own purposes, he had learned much during the brief conflict. Information that would surely please his colleagues to the north! A crooked smile turned up the corners of his thick lips as he carefully lifted the basin and moved over to his bed where the freshly deceased, nude body of a young man lay. He slowly poured the blood from the bowl back over the body from which it came, before tucking the vessel back away in a pack that sat beneath a dark cloak hanging on the wall near the door.

With some care, he removed a small, folded piece of parchment from the same pack. Its script was illegible to him, though he knew better than to even try to read it. His instructions had been made quite clear... The man scrawled a few words on the outside of the note before sealing it in wax with the corpse's own signet ring.

A few random belongings were shoved into the pack with the basin, and after pulling his cloak about his shoulders and lowering the dark cowl over his face he uttered a few black words followed by the gesturing required of the spell he chose to cast.

With that, the stocky man left the room and shut the door securely behind him before making his way down to the innkeeper's desk.

A loud clatter of a small bag of coins tossed onto the desk alerted Verton Wordray to his patron, whom he had been avoiding since the suspicious fellow arrived. The Inn of the Flaming Troll had its fair share of less than savory characters, but there was something just...off...about this man, whose face he hadn't yet seen, nor wanted to! Still, he paid in gold... Amnian gold, but gold all the same!

"That should pay for the room for the next week," the man hissed to the innkeep. "It would be prudent if you and the maids would stay out of my room until my paid time is up. But..."

He passed Verton the sealed note.

"If any of the Champions of the Red Dawn come looking for me, do send them up, and give them that note for me, will you?"

Beads of sweat started forming at the inkeep's brow as he could feel the dark man's malignant stare though he could not see it.

"Champions of the..." Verton had of course heard of these heroes based just to the north. Who in all of Tethyr hadn't! Why would they come looking for this man though...

"I... can do that!" He spoke up quickly, afraid to incur the fellow's wrath. "Who will th...they come askin' fer?" He stuttered, visibly shaken.

The cloaked figured laughed sharply and uttered a single word before disappearing from sight.

"OVER here!!" A voice came in the night. Suddenly Bramin, the first of Elric's students approached the group. Shortly after his arrival two more students rushed in through the fog. All three of them seemed eager for a chance to test their skill but weren't prepared for the sight that greeted them. The sight of their bloody teacher lying as if dead with his wife lying atop him. The enthusiasm drained away and the reality of battle settled in.

"What happened?!" Bramin asked to whoever would answer. The other two were first year students and were whispering in stunned tones. They had never seen the Turo be injured this badly... They had rarely even seen him get HIT!

******************

Elric felt a jolt as he something landed on top of him. Startled awake the first thing he noticed was pain. Not as sharp as before, but the familiar dull throb of muscle and bone newly mended. A mass of familiar auburn hair told him who it was.

Or did it? There were many Ashara's out tonight... and they'd fooled him before. She must have felt him stir because the next thing he saw were hazel eyes wet with concern. Relief flooded through him. Whoever these imposters were, he didn't believe that kind of emotion could be faked. This was HIS Ashara! There in confirmation was the dark blood from the knife wound his ring had made him witness.

The Regenerative Heal had done its work on that, but that wasn't the only hurt she'd taken. Before his eyes he watched as her other minor wounds healed before his eyes.

"Hi...." he stammered out. He leaned up on arm and took as sharp intake of breath. There was a LOT of blood... He knew with unpleasant certainty that most of it was his own.

"I think that one may have been a little close." He joked with weak grin. The grin vanished in concern as he looked at all the blood on her. "How are you... and the baby?"

She wasn't sure if the warmth she felt flowing through her was as a result of Eddick's Heal, or the fact that Elric was awake and felt good enough to crack jokes! Maybe a combination of the two...

The feeling of being Healed was quite a different experience than what it felt like to give Healing. Ashara couldn't remember if there had been a time when anyone actually Healed her, and she found it to be quite a pleasant sensation!

"Hi..." She returned Elric's greeting softly with a slight waiver in her voice. Ashara carefully pushed herself upright as the wound on her right hand closed.

"How are you... and the baby?"

"I'm fiIIIIIINN... OW!" A sickening pop could be heard as her shoulder slid back into its proper place. Fortunately the pain subsided rapidly and she recovered with only a slight whimper.

"I'm fine," she stated more clearly this time, "and I think the baby liked all the excitement!"

Ashara chuckled and gently pushed a few strands of hair behind her husband's slightly pointed ear. "That was far too close," she whispered looking at the size of the blood pool they were both sitting in. "If Eddick hadn't healed you when he did, I have a horrifying suspicion that I would have had to try Resurrecting you at Dawn..."

She raised her eyebrow in a slight, playful challenge at the mention of Resurrection, knowing full well his stance on the matter.

As Eddick's spell Neutralized the poison in her body, the priestess immediately felt the strength and control return to her arms and legs. She breathed a sigh of relief and nodded her thanks to the druid as she flexed her newly healed fingers.

"I still don't know exactly what happened tonight," she stated, looking around at the little group that had formed here. "There was one with a dark cloak, the one that was trying to take me out of town, she said something to Therogeon about having been paid to do this job! They weren't trying to kill me, but I don't know where, nor to whom I was being taken..."

Her eyes settled back on Elric. "If Therogeon hadn't found me in time, I would likely be long gone by now... He risked his life to save both me and our child!"

It wasn't that the fact surprised her, but just that it needed to be said aloud. They'd all saved each other so many times they'd lost count. Still, that didn't lessen her appreciation of the actions he took!

She looked over to where the master mage and Almara were kneeling next to Dhala and a fallen companion. Ashara had almost completely forgotten about Therogeon's injuries, considering he'd carried her all this way, but now he was looking as if he was starting to feel the effects of the blood loss!

"Therogeon," she called out, while she stood, carefully testing out the legs that had betrayed her just a short while ago. Gladly, they seemed cooperative this time! "Let me take a look at that wound, and I can see to mending it for you!"

Eddick waved off the grass men who had come to aid. Obviously both patients were doing fine, although a little love sick, but there was no spell in the world that would really help them now.

"My prescription for the both of you is to go to bed. I will make sure of your safety tonight, although if your enemies had any more tricks, they would have taken advantage of them already I think. I will attend to Therogeon and his. You will feel a whole lot better once dawn comes around."

Eddick stood and addressed the gathering crowd. "Don't you know better than to pry into a man's private moments with his wife? Make yourselves useful. We need questions answered! Who among us is missing or dead? Where did the assassins come from, did they take anything?" He pointed at a random bunch group of disciples and barked orders. "You! Secure the dojo. I want a list of who is present and who is not." He pointed again. "You! Secure the Temple. Find out if anything is missing. We will take care of our own houses, and you over there, search the town to make sure everyone is okay."

"In case you were wondering, there was an assassination attempt on Lord Elric and Lady Ashara. This is an unprovoked act of war. We will find the culprits and deal with them who would assault the peace. Fear not. But do your tasks and make your masters proud." He dismissed the crowd with a wave of his hand.

It did not matter if they were useful or not, but it was good to get the crowd busy instead of gawking. Now they wouldn't get in the way.

Almara looked up at Ashara gratefully. The small bump on her head was barely noticable, the slight frost coating was mostly melted and she didn't think she had sustained any or if any, barely, injury from the frost thanks to the haystack. Therogeon however still had that deep gash on his chest. Almara really wanted that one healed before the master mage collapsed. Comforting words or not, if the head of the order collapsed, especially while there were students around, it would not be good. And, she admited to herself, she had a personal reason for wanting the man or rather elf she loved to be healed.

She stepped back, pulling Therogeon to his feet. Tarpin and Dhala would be taken care of in due time.

The wizard let his lady love pull him to his feet. However he had no intention of letting himself be healed before everyone else was taken care of. Unfortunitely, by the look on Almara's face, he knew that idea was impossible. Sighing he agreed, "Fine...her first", he motioned to Almara, "Then myself. In the mean time, stop some of those underpriests of the temple and have them help with Tarpin." He looked at his students and Dhala again looked up at him with hope in her eyes. "We may have to wait until sunrise, but he will not sit out here on the cold ground."

"Now", he continued, turning to face the Ashara/shapeshifter stuck into a tree, "now what in Toril shall we do with this thing. I highly doubt it has any more information than previously gained from it's counterpart. And as impressive as this tree is, I do not want the townsfolk to see this thing....especially while it's wearing Ashara's form."

He turned to a couple of his students still standing by. As much as they respected the elder druid, Therogeon was their teacher and master, and they would not do anything without at least his approval. "You two", he said motioning to two on the end, "About three hundred yards to the south is the blackened remains of one of these things. Go quickly and bring it's belongings to back here. Once it is stripped of it's things, destroy the body...without alot of fuss. Let's not alert the town to too much of what's going on. They will know enough already from the rumors the students start tomorrow." The Master of the Order of the Mystic Veil watched two of his younger students take off heading for the south. He motioned for the others to do as Eddick had instructed and watched them depart.

"Sleep will be necessary quite soon, my friend," Ashara smiled at the druid, "but let me do what I am able before I'm sent away!"

The priestess heard the master mage say something about a tree wearing her form, but when she saw the body lying near a stack of hay her focus was drawn there.

She moved over to the lifeless form of Therogeon's student, and asked a couple of the priests to take his body to the Champions' house, which was much closer than the Chapel.

Nearby lay her Holy Symbol and she muttered a prayer of thanks as she bent over to carefully pick it up. It would need a new chain, but the medallion itself had much sentimental value to her and it would have been a shame to lose it. She realized then that her onyx pendant and dragonbone ring that Elric had given her were missing too! Hopefully those would be recovered yet as well...

"Tarpin will be given his opportunity to return to us tonight," she spoke to the half elven woman as she approached her, but loud enough for Therogeon and Dhala to hear. "There is no reason to make him wait for the Dawn. Just let me take care of a few of these wounds first. I feel that I've been quite useless this evening..."

With a warm smile, Ashara whispered a word and ran her thumb over the cut on Almara's forehead, sealing the flesh with her touch.

Something surprised her at that moment. Upon healing the mage, she sensed not one heartbeat, but two!

"Almara!" The priestess beamed at her, before asking excitedly under her breath. "Do you know?"

From one woman to another, there could be no mistaking exactly what the Morninglord was referring to.

Eddick perked up when he heard Therogeon talking about his new tree. "If you don't mind, I will take care of that. It is my mess after all." He made a motion with his hand and the grass surrounding the body doubled in height, effectively masking the prostrate form, in the night air.

He continued to walk over to the mage as Ashara was tending to their wounds. "I intend to make an example of that one, so don't worry about a thing."

Elric slowly rose to his feet. He watched as Ashara retrieved her medallion and began healing their friends. Looking around he was amazed and a little embarrassed about the turnout. Therogeon, wizards, priests, fighters... even Eddick! Everyone was here because they were worried about the Everdawn's safety. It felt good to be loved that much.

She was fine. The baby was fine. All his recent fears seemed to melt away. A powerful anger started to simmer. To be attacked outside their own HOME... To have his wife and unborn child threatened! They actually TOLD him they lost the child... He watched as priests carried the fallen mage to his home. People had died protecting his family and if they hadn't come to the rescue it could have been MUCH worse! Therogeon was the hero who'd returned with his wife.

"Therogeon... How did you know..." he started to ask, then stopped as it all became clear. "Ahhh, the Sacred Guardian..." He was one of the few that knew how closely the mage watched his city. Of course, Therogeon would have known that the spell went off. "I take you were the reason the 'other' Ashara went flying then... Did she get away?" He grimaced at the thought of how readily he'd been fooled by the deceptions.

"If it hadn't been for your quick thinking..." He left the thought unspoken. He didn't want to think about what nearly happened.

He leaned over to examine the gray skinned monstrosity that he had broken. Carefully he retrieved the deadly weapons and called over one of his students. "Shamus! Take these back home. I want to study them later..." The sandy haired youth eagerly stepped forward and retrieved them, and started running for the house.

The body was like nothing he'd ever seen before. It seemed to have died in mid transformation. "Therogeon... What are these things?"

The half elf blushed at Ashara's question. She knew excately what the priestess was referring to, and had known for a couple months.

She nodded as she whispered, "yeah....about three months now as I can figure...I haven't told him yet." Her tone left no doubt as to who 'him' was. "Every time I try, I get too scared....I know he'll be happy, but..." She shrugged. Then blushed again. "I mean, we're not even married yet....haven't even really talked about kids, or marrying...I mean we'd have you do the ceramony of course but other than that...oh Mystra am I rambeling?"

Almara put a hand on Ashara's shoulder, "Don't let him die on me, please....I'm not ready to be a single mom."

"hmm? Oh! If I had to guess, I'd say they were dopplegangers. Shapeshifters with the ability to take on nearly any humanoid form with limited telepathic abilities used to glean usefull information from a subject before they kill and replace them. Good work on taking that one down."

The wizard looked thoughtfull for a second before speaking again, one hand of his resting painfully on his wound. "I am sorry my brother. I blame myself for everything that happened tonight. I know that is unreasonable of me, but it is how I feel. I know that there was no way I could have seen this coming, yet I feel like I should have." He shook his head, he indeed knew he was being unreasonable, he knew there was no way he could have known anything was going on, yet he still felt guilty when his family was hurt.

He turned his head and looked directly into his brother's eyes, his voice was low and ominous, "We got lucky my friend. By all that is holy we should not have won tonight. None of us were prepared for an attack in any form. Only the fact that I had these weapons that I did and Eddick's arrival when it was saved us..." The mighty wizard sighed, seeming for all the world like a normal man and not the leader of a small but powerfull orginazation of wizards.

"And yet....yet we cannot let this go unpunished. We have to show those who hired these creatures that they cannot attack us in our own home and expect to get away with it." His eyes burned with a smoldering anger, "We have made too many enemies and there are too many innocents in this town. We need to send a message to our foes...mess with us...attack our town, and retribution will be swift and decisive."

He blinked and it seemed to Elric as if a change had come over the wizard, seeming to relax and appear more as his usual cheerfull self, "The hard part", he grinned, "Will be telling Ashara she can't come."

"Three months!" Ashara chuckled softly. "If you don't tell him soon, it'll be obvious enough!"

She patted the woman's hand and smiled. "You should think about talking to him as soon as possible. There's nothing to be scared of, and it's obvious to all how much he loves you! You've seen how well he cares for those he's named his family simply through shared adventures... Just imagine how much he cares for you and will care for your child!"

The thought of her friend beginning a family of his own, widened her smile even more. A three-quarter elf?

"I think you know I would be overjoyed to marry the two of you, at whatever opportunity you'd find convenient!" Ashara said with a grin, flicking the last remaining snow crystals from Almara's hair. "But you're right. Let's get that hole in his chest fixed first!"

Almara's comment about becoming a single mother hit Ashara hard. She'd nearly lost Elric today... The thought of their children growing up not knowing their father tore at her heart. They'd both grown up that way. Not knowing their families... And the Everdawns would do anything to keep that pain from their children!

The priestess smiled again at her friend and squeezed her arm reassuringly before walking over to where her husband and Therogeon stood over a very strange corpse of a...thing...

The master mage was grinning when she walked up, and Ashara smiled as well even though she hadn't caught the joke. Without asking, and knowing she didn't need to, she laid a palm over Therogeon's chest and clenched her teeth as she released Lathander's healing power into the wound. She winced a bit at the stabbing sensation in her chest, but the pain was brief.

She turned her eyes back down to the corpse whose sternum had been crushed into its spine. Elric said he'd been fighting Marstine... All she could do was blink and shake her head.

"That couldn't be the Marstine I've known for the last few years. I've read her mind before! Before I ever let her near our children... Mind Read would have told me if she was anything other than the good-hearted girl I have come to love!"

Her eyes closed briefly in sorrow and anger as she realized that the Marstine she had come to love was probably no longer alive...

"By Lathander if this thing killed an Awakened just to get to us?! We have to find out who did this!"

Ashara raised her eyes and looked back and forth between the two men, who had said nothing only staring at each other in some kind of silent man-speak that was indecipherable to her.

"What am I missing..."

"We were just saying the same thing..." Elric said with a half a smile. He pointed his thumb at Therogeon. "He's just trying to think of a way to tell you, you can't go!" Before she could object he raised his hand to stall her. "I think I might agree with him." He looked back at Therogeon and reiterated "might."

"Let's be honest, Melamin... I don't want you in harm's way! Just going with us... whenever or wherever we track these things down... Is going to be dangerous. To you AND the baby..." He shuddered as he remembered racing into a trap carrying what he thought was Ashara. "I thought... They told me... That we lost the baby today."

"It was a lie. They knew you and the kids are my biggest weakness, and they played me like a mandolin... but the fact that I believed it so readily was because it could so easily have been TRUE!"

Looking back at the elf. "However... the fact that they can impersonate so well... I also don't want to let her out of my sight!" He shook his head in confusion. "These don't seem like the right enemies to split the group with. She was attacked right in our back yard! I don't like the idea of separating!"

Eddick had sent people to the house, but he found himself continually stealing glances that way anyways. The children were fine when he'd left them not too long ago. They weren't the target, their mother was but they failed THAT attack... "Did we get all the kidnappers? I only got one of my two... did Almara get the 'other' Ashara?"

The priestess felt the heat rising to her face, not in embarrassment, but in anger as the two people closest to her in this world discussed what should be done with her.

"I have had just about enough of people telling me what I can and cannot do today," she said in a low and threatening voice as her eyes shifted between the men.

"Therogeon, if Elric is ever in trouble again, and I tell you I need you to pull my shoulder back into joint so that I can cast a spell...by the Golden Light of the Dawn you better! I understand that Eddick was here. I get it, I do! But if you ever," Ashara's voice didn't raise at the word, but dropped to a whisper, "keep me from him again..."

She simply let that threat hang in the chilly night air.

"I appreciate your concern for my well-being, AND the baby's well-being, and I know that if it weren't for your aid, that I'd probably be much worse than dead by the time the sun rises, but..." She leveled her gaze at him.

"BUT, this is not my first pregnancy as you know, and if a high priestess of LATHANDER doesn't know what her unborn child can and cannot handle, than I assure you no one does!"

Ashara huffed a bit before turning her ire upon Elric.

"As for YOU," she said with a raised eyebrow as she crossed her arms in front of her. Arms that were held in place by her growing belly.

"I'm pregnant, not crippled, and frankly I don't want you in harm's way! What happens if something tragic befalls either of you and I don't know where you are or what happened? I can't Heal OR Raise a body that's not in front of me, and that means Resurrection, and that's six years of my life we're talking about! We all know I don't have many to spare! Besides, I don't even know if I CAN bring Therogeon back now that he's an elf! Elves almost never want to come back for some reason..."

"If either of you haven't guessed yet, I agree that the idea of separating is bad! Please though, do go on and decide for me what's in my best interest. Certainly I've never faced danger before," she gasped dramatically before continuing her tirade, "and as the wilting flower that I am, I'm sure I'd faint dead away at the sight of say... Demons. No? Hmm... Demigods? No wait... Oh, maybe FLAMING DRACOLICH AVATARS! Nope!"

Ashara huffed again and still talking, she turned to walk away.

"Excuse me, but I have a soul that I need to pull back from the afterlife, then I have three children who I have to check on. Do let me know what you all decide!"

The fuming priestess started to stalk off toward the house, but she only got a few steps before stopping and running a hand through her blood-stained hair. Turning around, she walked back with a sigh.

"Listen... I'm sorry for that," Ashara said honestly, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion. "I'm not angry with either of you, and Therogeon, you probably made a good call there, I'm just frustrated that something like this could happen and catch me so unawares and so terribly unprepared."

She was incredibly shaken by this attack, and it was easy for the two men to see it.

Elric just stared wide-eyed at the verbal berating. Slowly a grin started to form, then a chuckle, then flat out laughter. He may live to regret it later, but the stress from the long night was finally getting to him. The entire time she was yelling only one thought went through his mind. The temper flare was something no doppelganger could have imitated. That was his Ashara all right!

"Ok... I'm not going to fight on this!" He said raising his hands in surrender. "There's no one I'd rather have with me... No offense Therogeon." The smile slipped a bit as he considered the ramifications of what just happened. "Ashara... It looked JUST like Marstine... Who can we still trust to watch the children. If... when we both leave?

"It's all a moot point anyway. Until you talk to the dead, I don't think we'll be getting any clues out of this one." He indicated the doppelcorpse lying in the grass. "This is all just the idle speculation right now."

"We have a LOT of enemies, and it could have been ANY of them. The fact that they went after you first, means it could have been someone new... It may have more to do with your new missions than our old ones. Unless we can figure a direction to start it may be better for all of us to stay here and make sure there aren't any MORE of these things..."

Eddick moved over during the conversation of the four towards the tree he had recently grown. They were talking about something or other, but it did not seem terribly important to him at this time.

Over the past few years, Eddick had gotten restless and slightly more irritable. He did not like the change, but he did realize where it came from. He was lonely. When Gwilly was with him, he always felt young and loved, because she stayed with him for so long, and it was good for the soul. After Calimshan, they had grown apart, and she sobered up a bit, and maybe he changed as well. They stopped traveling with each other, and it had gotten a little awkward between them, especially since she had started traveling with Marinelle. He had missed the boat on that particular adventure, and she stepped out of his life.

In other words, he was lonely.

It was enough to make anyone irritable, but it was very uncomfortable for him for a combination of reasons. First of all, it was very difficult for anyone to keep up with him anymore. He was doing a multitude of tasks now, and it was so much quicker to do them himself, and sometimes even necessary. Gwilly could always turn into a bird and keep up with him, or a mouse and curl up in his pocket and sleep. But even amongst the druids there wasn't anyone who could match his pace... anymore.

But soon, his crowning achievement would be complete. He decided to name it Stonehinge. It was made of large stones in an area of real exceptional beauty, and it was the door to many places. It wouldn't be very long until it was completed, and then perhaps, he could slow down.

And then he smiled to himself. A pleasant lie, that was. Eddick decided to dismiss the idea. One cannot live with lies for fear the truth will be found, but it was only truth that solid foundations might be laid. Perhaps he could change his focus, and then be able to find someone who would be willing to travel with him for a while. That would be a definite ease to his mind. Until then, however, business needed to be attended.

Eddick reached the place where the grass had grown up to cover the body of the assassin. He brushed it aside and spoke to the form, who after all this time still seemed to be in complete shock, still contemplating the living hell she was currently in. He spoke gingerly to her as a contrast to the agony she felt. "Answer my questions to my satisfaction and I will put an end to your pain."

Ashara's contorted face appeared as if it was screaming in silent anguish as the tree and its roots exerted relentless pressure on every nerve in her body. The assassin had felt pain in her lifetime. She'd lived her life by the blade and had made quite a name for herself among the black networks of the underworld. Phaldran was a survivor, but this... This pain had her longing for death!

"Answer my questions to my satisfaction and I will put an end to your pain."

The soothing voice of the old man felt more like mocking, but she had no more cards to play. No more tricks up her sleeve as she lie there in the tall grasses with a two-foot diameter tree growing through her spine! He was offering sweet release from the agony and she had no choice but to accept.

Large, hazel eyes shut momentarily in a slow blink, only to open again, reflecting even more pain at the slight movement.

"Assskkk..." She managed to rasp in response to the druid, while trying to move her mouth as little as possible.

Ashara just watched incredulously as Elric laughed at her outburst. Arms still crossed, she grinned and raised an eyebrow in an 'I'll deal with you later' kind of way before beginning to rationally discuss some of his concerns.

"It's possible that these creatures had been sent by enemies of the church specifically, but that may not mean they are new enemies... Many of the enemies of CoRD are no friends of Lathander!"

"As for the children... I'd hate to leave them if we felt they were in any kind of danger," she conceded Elric's point. "There is much I can do to lock down the house though. The chapel...and the tower too, if Therogeon wishes it! Wards that aren't fooled by disguises. Perhaps my parents could stay at the house if we're gone, but I'll have to check them too."

She shuddered visibly at the thought of these creatures appearing as her parents!

"You're right we need to make sure there are no more of these things in town first... It seems like Therogeon has a way to see through their disguises, and I can cast Mind Read as well, but that could take some time."

The priestess' shoulders slumped in fatigue at the thought. It had been a long day and a longer night, and she still had a mage to attempt to Raise, which was one of the more exhausting spells. Still, she didn't want to have to let the boy stay dead for longer than he needed to. Especially not when he died as a result of an attack had been on the Champions! Or had it been only on her... So little information to go on!

"Do we have any clues at all to who did this, besides these creatures being paid for a job? Has the one wearing my face been put down yet?"

Ashara turned her head to see Eddick kneeling down at the base of a grass-enveloped tree, seeming to talk to it.

For most people that would be unusual...

Wait, had that tree ever been there before?

The old druid thought for a moment, and decided on a plan of attack. He wanted to get the most amount of information with the fewest amount of questions. His friends wanted to hush things up here, and he supposed it might be a good idea. Eddick finally realized that this being here looked an awful lot like Ashara. If word got out that the druid had stuck her under a tree, Eddick would be looked on with even more suspicion than before. Not that he really cared about what people thought in this town, but it would make it harder to get recruits.

Although, they had not been lacking in new recruits for the past few years. Since Eddick's actions starting in Zezesspur and Calimshan, there were plenty of people who started to understand the power in serving nature, like at no other time that could be remembered. They could actually afford to be more picky with those that were accepted, and some that nature accepted without their help. Which was fine by Eddick.

Of course, now was not the time to reminisce.

"What God do you serve and what were your objectives here?"

Ashara's eyes slowly rolled back in her head as she endured the torture of inhaling in order to answer his questions.

"I ssserrrve n..noooo god..." The remaining air was exhaled as a crescendoing howl of pain. Then another agonizing intake of breath.

"I waasss to re...placcccee Ashhharrra... Eeeverdawwwn aaaAAHHHH!" Phaldran's face rippled momentarily as she tried to shift to another form. That only served to increase the agony, and she realized she had no more control over the body she wore.

"Pleeeaaassse..." Her unfocused eyes searched for the druid's face. "Plleeeeaaasse killl meeee..."

Eddick continued his questions in his gentle tone, "Just a couple more questions and I will grant your request. Now tell me, who is it that sent you here, and what were you to do when you took her place?"

The old druid knew that he didnt have much time to get the info before her mind was completely destroyed by the pain. It soon becomes so much more than anything of the past. In an hour, she would barely remember her own name.

The assassin whimpered slightly. Her poisoned dagger was so close... She could feel the hilt of it touching her hand, and she wished she could simply nick her finger with the blade so the paralytic poison would numb all the pain. If only for a short time. Her nerves were not responding to commands however, and the druid was promising sweet release soon...

"Now tell me, who is it that sent you here, and what were you to do when you took her place?"

"A...a maaaann... Blaack cloooak... I ssssaaww noo faaccce. Nooo... Nooo naaame. Ungh!" Phaldran took a ragged, shallow breath. Slowly, painfully she continued to try to answer. "The woman... Assshharaa... To be taaaken to the inn. Flaaaming Trrrolll... Caaaradooon..."

A long moment passed before she could gather the strength of will to respond to Eddick's second question.

"I waasss to... Diiiviide the followersss of Lathaaandeerrr. Killl the half-elf... Kill the elf... You... All of them... One. By. One..."

Maybe that would anger him, she hoped. Maybe then he would end this unimaginable suffering! The assassin could feel her mind slipping towards blackness, but her body wouldn't allow her to reach unconciousness just yet.