It wasn't until later that they discovered Trooper.
They found the old paladin sitting on a low spur of stone, his eyes closed, a faintly mischievous smile resting on his lips. Heavy, golden beams of sunlight slanted down from the jagged hole in the cavern's roof, igniting the old man's hair in a fiery halo. They did not need to feel for his heartbeat to know that he was dead.
"He has passed on to Tyr's halls now," Miltiades said gravely. Evaine reached out and squeezed his hand tightly. Listle wept bitterly, burying her head in her hands as Daile did her best to comfort the elf.
Kern knelt beside Trooper's lifeless body, not trying to hide the tears that rolled down his own cheeks. "Thank you," was all he whispered softly.
On a brilliant winter's solstice day, Kern ceremonially returned the Hammer of Tyr to its rightful place in the temple. It was an auspicious day for the ritual, Sister Sendara said, for it was the day when the sun began its trek northward and the days grew longer once more, heralding the coming spring.
There were other good omens as well, for a legendary paladin walked the world again. The temple's clerics had observed Miltiades with awe these last few days. However, Miltiades did not mind. He was used to being stared at, if for different reasons.
As Kern walked to the temple's nave bearing the hammer, the sign of hope most important to him came in the form of a tall, regal, red-haired woman who sat on a marble bench. As he neared her, the beautiful woman stood and kissed him on the cheek.
"You've grown handsome, my son," she murmured.
Kern blushed. "Thank you, Mother."
Only the barest traces of shadow lingered in the sorceress's cheeks. The Hammer of Tyr had healed her almost completely of the injury caused to her by the guardian of the pool.
No, Kern, a gruff, cantankerous voice seemed to whisper in his mind. The hammer didn't heal Shal. You healed her.
Kern looked around, wondering where the voice came from, though he had a suspicion. He knew enough not to argue.
Shal returned to her seat next to Tarl, gripping his hand affectionately. The white-haired cleric smiled proudly, even though he could not see his son. Despite its powers, the Hammer of Tyr had not cured Tarl's blindness. While this had saddened Kern, his father had told him to put his sorrow aside. Whether he could see or not, Tarl knew that he was the same man as before. Except, perhaps, a little bit wiser.
Kern couldn't help but chuckle as he passed his grinning friends on the way to the ornate marble altar. Anton nodded to him solemnly then. It was time.
"In the name of Tyr," Kern called out, "I return this relic to its rightful place!" He set the hammer down upon the altar.
The next day, Phlan started to change.
True, there was little enough different to meet the eye. The streets were still dark and sullen, littered with refuse, the buildings lining them dilapidated and crumbling. But as Kern walked through the city, here and there he noticed small things that gave him cause for hope. For the first time in recent memory, the tall smokestacks looming over the city no longer belched forth black, sulfurous smoke. A steady breeze from the Moonsea was already clearing the gloomy cloud hanging over Phlan.
People had been trickling back into the city these last days. Most of them seemed a bit dazed, as if they had just woken from a dark nightmare. They stared at the city in dismay, as if only truly seeing it for the first time. Slowly, they began to rebuild their lives.
Kern passed an old woman planting lily bulbs in a flower bed in front of her clapboard hovel. A group of raggedly clad children ran by, laughing merrily. He strolled past a tavern and realized it was the one he had passed with Tarl and Listle the day they had gone to the temple to learn the answer to Bane's riddle. Odd, he thought, that it seemed so long ago now. He watched as the innkeep busily painted over the sign that had once read "The Bloated Corpse." Now it read "The Golden Feather," a more auspicious name to Kern's mind. A pretty young woman threw open the tavern's shuttered windows, whistling a cheerful tune.
Kern shook his head. Already the grip of the dark gods was loosening. It would be a long time until Phlan was truly healed, he knew, perhaps years. But with the Hammer of Tyr returned to its rightful place, the healing had begun. Nor would the clerics of Tyr stand idle. Already Anton and Tarl were concocting plans to help restore the city.
Kern found his traveling companions in the main room of Denlor's Tower. Tarl was upstairs with Shal. Though the sorceress seemed all but recovered, Tarl had forbidden her from working until he was certain she was fully rejuvenated.
"If I don't start doing some magic soon, I'm liable to forget how to cast a spell altogether!" she had complained, but Tarl had not been swayed, and neither Kern nor Listle were about to argue with the brawny, white-haired cleric.
Kern was dismayed but not surprised to see Daile packing her belongings.
"It's time I returned to the Valley of the Falls," she explained, slinging her magical bow over her shoulder. She smiled wryly. "If I stay away too long, the orcs will start thinking they own the place."
He laughed and hugged her tightly.
"Well, we can't have that," Kern told her. "After all, what would Ren think?"
"Keep him out of trouble, Listle," Daile told the elf as if Kern were not listening, a habit she and the elf had which annoyed him to no end.
The elf snorted, as if this was a good joke. "You wrangle your orcs, Daile. Leave Kern to me."
Her words sounded vaguely ominous, but Kern wasn't quite certain why.
Daile left the tower, promising to visit soon. But when Kern glanced out the window, he noticed that the young ranger had paused to talk to Gamaliel. Evaine's familiar was in his human form. The two spoke together for a moment, and Daile gripped the barbarian's hand tightly. Then she was gone. Kern didn't know what had passed between them, but Gamaliel stood in the courtyard until dusk began to gather, gazing off to where Daile had vanished.
A voice spoke behind him.
"I just talked to Brookwine and Winebrook. Primul is moving on."
Startled, Kern turned to see Listle step out of a wall, her ruby pendant flashing.
"Won't you ever get tired of that trick?" he asked in a perturbed voice.
She thought about it for a moment. "Probably not," she decided.
Suddenly her words struck him. "What did you mean, Primul is 'moving on'?"
Listle sighed. "He and the two mages are going to find a new hiding place. Sifahir's minion came too close for comfort. It's only a matter of time until another one of his servants discovers the grove in the forest. Primul wants to make certain he's long gone by then."
A coldness gathered in the pit of Kern's stomach. "Are you… are you going with him?"
She regarded him curiously with her brilliant eyes. "Do you want me to, Kern?"
"I want you to be safe, Listle. If that mage-"
She interrupted him. "That wasn't what I asked."
He thought for a long moment. "No," he said finally. "I want you to stay, Listle."
"Good," she said with a laugh. "Because you're stuck with me, Kern Desanea."
He wasn't certain if he had just received a prize or a prison sentence. Kern had learned on his journey that there was more to the diminutive elf than met the eye.
Much more. And something told him he had only scratched the surface. But no matter what surprises she held for him, or what secrets she kept, he knew now that there would always be a place for her in his heart.
"I don't think I'm ever going to figure you out, Listle," he said finally, shaking his head in exasperation.
"No," she said musingly, "I don't suppose you ever will."