The Home Stone

The trek down and out of the pass was swift and by mid-morning, they had reached the east road. Dreen rode up front beside Kirin and Ashley, while the rest of the group brought up the rear. The last time Ashley was in Evermore, was when she helped Baalmus with his sale and the time before that was for the Ceremony of Life, where she watched as Shannon touched the holy stone. That was just a little over nineteen years ago. Now she was going there again, only with a different quest in hand.

Kirin’s thoughts turned to Shannon. What was she doing now? Was she all right? He remembered how inexperienced she had been in the use of magic. But her magic did not fail her when she fought Malodor and defeated him at the Dragon’s Mouth. He could still envision Duncan, the old dwarf rolling around trying to douse the flames from the evil druid’s magic. Seeing Shannon jamming the Staff of the Sun into the ground and hitting the druid with a mighty lightning bolt. To this day, Treymane still believes that it was the staff that had set off the volcano.

They rode on for the better part of the day and by midafternoon they reached the old forest. Suddenly Kirin called to halt. He turned and made a motion for the others to unsheathe their weapons.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” he said. “It’s too quiet.”

No sooner had the last word escaped his mouth, an arrow hissed past his head and buried itself in Dreen’s shoulder. At the same time five female warriors, charged out from behind the trees and attacked the party. Pulling both long daggers from his belt, Kirin charged into the five. So quick was his response that two of the warriors had no chance to escape the blades and fell where they stood. Ashley with her sword in hand parried the spear of another female and cut a deep gash into the shoulder of another. While the other elves formed a protective circle around their fallen comrade. Kirin with his chance grabbed his bow and quickly dispatched two arrows. One hit its mark ending the life of another warrior. The second arrow only grazed the other female who ran from the scene and back into the forest, where she disappeared. Kirin gave chase but soon lost the warrior girl in the thick underbrush. After a few minutes, he returned to find Ashley bending over the injured elf.

“How bad is it?” he asked.

“It’s deep,” she responded, “but I think it missed all of his vital parts.”

When the elf tried to stand up he collapsed. Kirin picked up the arrow that Ashley had pulled out of the Dreen’s shoulder and sniffed the tip. A strong and familiar smell caused him to pull back from the arrow.

“I’m afraid we must hurry,” he said with a sense of urgency. “I think the tip was poisoned. We must get him to the healers at once or he will die.”

As fast as they could, the six friends got the wounded elf back into the saddle and tied him to it so he would not fall off. As soon as Dreen was secured, the party set off for the village where they could get help from the elf healers. They pushed their horses to the limits and did not stop to rest until they crossed a small wooden bridge that spanned the southern branch of the Maitland River. There they met up with a patrol of the famous Home Guard. Quickly explaining what had happened to them, the commander sent one man on horseback to the village to prepare for their arrival. He then ordered the rest of his men along with Kirin’s five elves, to cross the bridge and look for the wounded woman. Now the three found themselves alone and moving as quickly as possible.

At one point, they stopped as Kirin went in search of a plant that might help in slowing the poison. Returning a short time later the elf started a small fire and cooked the strange looking plant and then pounded it into a pulp. He then pushed the mixture into the infected wound. The elf pulled back in pain as Kirin pressed the medicine deep into the open lesion.

“There!” Kirin said. “That should slow the poison down enough. At least until we reach the healers.”

Again, they helped the Dreen onto his horse and continued until the village of the healers came into view. Just south and a half a day’s travel of the main and much larger village that housed the High Council, lay the tiny village of the healers. There they left the elf in the capable hands of the ones who did nothing else, but help the sick and injured. Immediately the healers took a now unconscious Dreen and disappeared into a hut. They would do what they needed to do, to save his life. While the healers were hard at work with Dreen, the other two continued onto the village of Evermore. It was so called, as this was the place where the stone was kept. Here they were given accommodations in a guesthouse that was built to house at least thirty people. Though the rooms were as sparse as ones in Ashland were, the beds were more soft and comfortable. After settling in, Kirin and Ashley went to eat at the Inn by the Sea. A quaint little place that served mostly fish and other products that came from the blue waters just off the coast.

The two went down to the docks where the inn was. They went down the main street called the Aldeon, the elvish name for, the Avenue of Trees. This took them straight to the harbor. Along the way they passed one type of shop after another. This was clearly the commercial hub of the village. Ashley noticed that the streets were kept clean as each merchant swept in front of his own establishment. Not at all like the docks of Sweet Wood. In the harbor, two big frigates were anchored. These were the fastest war ships of the elven navy. The triple mast ships had at least four catapults that one could see from a distance. Kirin told her that each ship could carry about five hundred men including the ship’s crew of forty. They were mainly used to chase the Sea Pirates that raided the shipping lanes.

It was twilight by the time they entered the inn and sat down at an empty table in the far corner. Kirin explained that they served all kinds of food, but their specialty was “Lingwe Carak”. A serpent like fish with long fangs used to kill its prey. It was highly prized by the people of Evermore.

“They also have soft shelled crab,” he continued. “You won’t find any better elsewhere.”

The next morning, they returned to the healers to inquire about the progress of their friend. They were told that it was still too early to determine how far the poison had gone. Had it reached the heart it would have killed him, but that did not happen. Kirin’s quick thinking to use the healing powers of the “Iralenlote” or Jade Flower, which slowed the progression of poison in Dreen’s body, probably saved his life. Now all they could do is wait and see if the herbs and magic of the healers worked. By the time they returned to guesthouse it was dark and turned in for the night. Tomorrow they would have better news as to what happened to their friend.