The Journey Ends

[Brian]

"I suspected," Sasha replies with a nod.  "So, here is what I told Jeramine: I offer you a deal.  Your sisters are captured, no matter how your fever interpets the event.  They poisoned you in the process ... and I want their swords, as well.

"My father's things are precious to me.  However, I am willing to surrender both of those, and your own back to you ... if you swear upon your word of honor that you will seek out, and find the east wind.

"She is missing, and without her, Paradise will fail."

[Carthrat]

The decision had already been made.

"Then so I swear, on my honor, and my fathers honor," replies Karil, steadfastly.

The East Wind was as ambiguous as any name.. but even if the quest was to 'Sack the Palaces of Heaven', Karil would have sworn the oath.

[Brian]

"You shall know her when you see her," Sasha says, just before she dissolves into blackness.

When Karil comes to his senses, he's been stripped to his breeches, and is laying on a bed -- not a cot, a bed -- in a room.  A woman who looks somewhat like Elue, only with the small flaws that designate reality is standing nearby, wiping sweat from Karil's brow with a cool cloth.  Nearby, a woman who looks like what Karil imagines Sasha would if she were aged ... a lot ... is grinding some herbs up in a stone bowl.

"Awake, are you?" she asks, and her voice is identical to that from the feverdream.  "Good.  Now it's time to sleep.  To recover your strength.  You feel well now, but that's the venom in your blood.  It makes you feel alive, and invigorated.  But the more you move, the more quickly you spread it.  Lesser men would have been killed already."  The old woman (she's got to be nearly sixty!) mixes the herbs into a steaming cauldron, and stirs it for a while, producing a ladel and filling a cup for Karil.

"Here.  Drink this, and rest off the last bout of poison."

[Carthrat]

Karil downs the cup, and resists the impulse to toss off the covers, get dressed, and start pacing.

"Where am I?" he asks.

[Brian]

"The monastary of a Thousand Fans," the old woman says.  "I am Abbess Sasha, the leader of this temple.

"Your men brought you here, poisoned, after a battle.  You should have been dead ... but you were not.  And for that, we are glad.  The two criminals your men brought are being held in cells below.  But don't let that trouble you."

The draught that Sasha gave Karil quickly leaves him feeling very tired.  "Rest, and awaken hungry, young lord."  And everything fades to blackness again.

When Karil recovers his senses, he's dressed the same, though his sheets have been changed.  The Elue-like is sitting nearby, working on some bit of needlework while waiting for Karil to awaken.

The first thing Karil notices upon waking is that the poison left a gaping void in his stomach, which quickly gurgles to that effect.  Elue smiles at this wordlessly, and moves to help Karil up.  While hungry, and weaker than he'd like Karil can easily sit up under his own power.

Once he's upright, Elue hands Karil a largish platter (with convenient little feet, so it'll stay upright on the bed) with a bowl of soup, two apples, nearly an entire loaf of bread, some cheese, and some sausages and eggs.  As hungry as Karil is, he's not certain it'll be enough.

[Carthrat]

Karil wolfs down the food, glancing up at Elue. If that really is her name.

"I could use some more," he says, without preamble. "And, if it is possible, I would see Jaramine as soon as I can."

[Brian]

She nods wordlessly, and leaves.  When the door opens again, it is Jeramine who enters, having brought a twin to the now vanished remains of the lord of the Serpent Clan's meal.

He exchanges platters, and looks worn ... tired.  But pleased to see Karil in good health.

[Carthrat]

"Two weeks," murmurs Karil, shaking his head. He starts to munch on a piece of fruit.

"It is good to see the real you again, Jaramine. How are things?"

[Brian]

"The real me?" Jeramine asks, raising an eyebrow.  "We mourn our lost, but are cheered that we have not lost our leader."

[Carthrat]

Karil pauses.

"In my fever-dream, I saw many things.

But that is not important. My mind is hazy, and I find myself rememerbing little immediately before I was unconcious. You must tell me what transpired those two weeks ago."

[Brian]

Jeramine nods, and looks thoughtful, if a bit grim.  "About three weeks ago we reached the end of the desert.  From there, we set up camp, and recieved notice from ... the sisters ... that they were nearby, and wanted to have a duel with you to settle things once and for all.

"Your plan involved archers hiding in the scrub brush ... which probably would have worked, but their plan was to just loosen the boulders at the top of the mountains and crush our would-be ambushers.  When the avelanches began, you called the men out from cover, rather than risk them to the landslide.  The sisters waited until the dust reached the bottom of the valley, and used it as a cloak to enter.

"I believe they were trying for as much precision as they could get -- if they were to kill you and take your place ... it would be of no benefit if their subjects were dead.  Regardless, they ended up killing six of our men before we knew what was going on, and then they were close enough to cut you with that poisoned dagger ... you disarmed Farel and left her with that as her only option."  Jeramine glowers a bit.  "I suspect she planned it.

"After that, the men swarmed the twins, and the dust began to clear.  When it was over, another two were badly wounded, one more was dead.  We lost one of the wounded, but the other was rushed here -- with you.  He's doing well enough, but won't be able to fight again except from horseback.  And even that is some months down the line.

"Anyway.  After we'd captured the twins, they told you that you'd been poisoned, and there was no antidote.  A traveler through the desert saw our camp and thought that we were merchants ... when he tried to buy food from us we saw that he was taken care of.  But he did know the area better than we did.  He was a monk headed to the eastern land ... he knew the way to this monastary.  He called himself 'Master Oki Bi', and left a few days ago.  He was headed east at the time.

"He knew of a healer here, and this is where we brought you.  Abess Sasha said she had healed a man of the same poison once, but warned us that it would be a close thing ... so we are glad that it wasn't TOO close."  Finished speaking, Jeramine pulls a waterskin from his belt, and takes a few sips.

[Carthrat]

Karil shudders for a moment. "It seems that fortune and misfortune go hand in hand," he comments, wryly. "It seems I am indebted to many."

"Sasha bargained with me through my dream and on my waking. My healing was not free. I suspect you may know this already, however.

I had a choice. Either give up Twilight Song and leave, or take it and find the 'East Wind'." Karil pauses for a moment. "I swore that I would, and so I will. Even if I yet do not know how to begin, I am sure all will be revealed soon enough.

It is good that Karla and Farel are now imprisioned. Were it up to me, I would repay their foolishness with blood... but no matter. Soon, I will be well again, and then, it seems, our journey will continue.."

[Brian]

Jeramine nods.  "Where do you intend to look for the east wind?" he asks, a look of intent concentration forming.  "There are a lot of books here.  We might be able to find some clues or explanations."

[Carthrat]

"I intended to question Sasha more closely," remarks Karil. "If that was not forthcoming, libraries would seem the place to go.

If we found nothing there, then we may as well travel East and see what we can find. But something here will surely reveal itself."

[Brian]

"Perhaps," Jeramine says with a shrug.  "Either way, if you're up to it, you may want to walk about and speak to the men.  They'd be cheered to see you, since you were carried in on a stretcher, stricken with fever."

He indicates the second (largely untouched) tray.  "Assuming you aren't still hungry," he adds.  This causes Karil's stomach to growl unhappily, demanding more sustenance.