Page 73

It is night by the time you and Deke meet up with Merlyn again, at the inn. Or what is left of it.

Digging, building, healing, and searching for missing people filled most of your day. Amazingly, no one in the village was killed in the earthquake, at least not that you know of. Merlyn and Rial had a lot to do with that. And no one is still unaccounted for. People are devastated by the wreck that's become of their homes, but at least no one is mourning lost loved ones.

It looks like another night sleeping on the ground for you, though. You gather up tinder from the fallen inn to make a fire.

"But we don't have any flint," Deke frets. "How will we start a fire without flint?"

Rial stares at him a moment, then just shakes his head.

The villagers have pooled together what food they have unharmed by the quake, and are now cooking, mostly over fires scattered about the ground. They share what they cook, making sure everyone has enough. You're touched by the scene. And you're very happy to end the day sitting around a fire and eating a warm meal.

After you eat, you sit around the fire talking awhile.

"I guess Sharalinda's not going to show up here, now," Merlyn says. "And I don't know what she had planned for us."

"Do you have any spell that lets you talk to her?" you ask. "A kind of teacher-student thing?"

"Wait a minute," Rial interrupts. "You're saying Sharalinda's your teacher? I've heard of her � she's a famous sorceress of Zephiro. A teacher of Zephiro with a student of Kalyro? I wouldn't trust her if I were you."

"Huh?" you ask.

Merlyn explains impatiently, sounding huffy. "Each element has an opposing element. Kuaro and Vulkaro are opposed to each other, as are Zephiro and Kalyro. It's not a rivalry; it's part of the balance of the world. This apprentice is claiming that a sorceress of Zephiro would deliberately badly instruct a student of Kalyro, because their elements are opposed. He obviously fails to understand that any true sorcerer is above such pettiness, as a true sorcerer accepts the need for balance in the world." She turns back to Rial, who doesn't look at all contrite for his accusation. "And furthermore, if you knew at all what you were talking about you'd realize that Sharalinda's grown so wise and studied in all of the elements that she's practically a daughter of each of the gods, not just Zephiro. She fully instructs me in everything I need to know, when I am ready for it. She tells me that one day I will be more powerful even than she is."

"Sure, she tells you that," Rial mutters, but he lets it go. "So do you have any kind of telepathy spell?"

"Well, I don't," says Merlyn. "But if we go to the temple of Kalyro, at Kalokathir, I can try to communicate with Kalyro. And if Sharalinda has gone and consulted the gods, Kalyro will know what she now plans."

"Kalokathir," you say, trying out the word. "How far away is that?"

"A couple of hundred miles northwest of here," she admits. "It'll be quite a trip. And I don't know exactly how to get there." Her cheeks color a bit. "Maybe a map's not such a useless item after all."

"I know how to get there," Rial says. "I just came from the Kalokathion. The temple was the third stop on my pilgrimage."

"Would you be willing to come with us?" Merlyn asks. "Show us the way?"

Deke gives a start. "But you've already got all the magic we could ever want, Merlyn," he says.

They all turn to you.

If you want Rial to come with you to Kalokathir, turn to page 79.
If you want to make the trip on your own, turn to page 84.