To Darnae’s credit, she hesitated only for a breath. Then she nodded thoughtfully, as if Ilvani had pointed out a fact she’d never considered before. She walked over to the rack, picked up a quill, and fitted it to Ilvani’s hand. To Ashok’s surprise, Ilvani didn’t jerk away when the halfling touched her fingers.
“Ashok.” Darnae addressed him, though she never took her eyes off Ilvani. “Could I ask you to go around the counter to the back room and get my bandages and the water basin, please? The ceiling slants downward back there, so watch your head.”
“I don’t think I should leave.”
“Go,” Ilvani said, surprising him again. “I’m fine.”
Ashok went to the back room and found the bandages and the basin. He brought them to the middle of the room where Darnae and Ilvani had arranged themselves on the floor. Ilvani was trying to hand Darnae back the quill, but Darnae wouldn’t take it, so Ilvani slipped it into the green bag she had tied at her waist.
“My thanks, Ashok,” Darnae said. She put the basin on her lap and began unrolling the bandages. “Won’t you sit with us?” she said when Ashok remained standing.
He sat, his hand automatically moving to shift his weapons. He still hadn’t recovered his chain from the forges. He hadn’t checked on Cree, either, or made his report to Uwan about Olra’s death. Everything that had happened in the past few hours was like an indistinct dream. All he had been able to think about was Ilvani’s safety-no, that wasn’t entirely true. He needed answers, a reason why Olra had died. He needed an explanation to give to Cree for why he had lost his eye.
But more than anything, he needed to be doing something. If he stopped for a breath to think, the red rage would consume him again.
He sat in silence while Ilvani let Darnae tend to her wounds. The halfling removed Ashok’s hasty bandage and cleaned the cuts-Ashok saw her pause when she discovered the symbols, but he didn’t say anything, just let her examine the marks-and when she finished bandaging them, she wet a strip of cloth and wiped Ilvani’s face clean. Throughout the ministrations, Ilvani didn’t move or protest. Ashok marveled at the two of them.
He hated to disturb the scene, especially with Ilvani so tranquil, but finally he had to speak. “Darnae, this is Ilvani. I’ve told you about her before.”
“You have, and I’m pleased to know you, Ilvani,” Darnae said. Her smile quickly faded, though, and she sat aside the basin of water, now pink with Ilvani’s blood. “What brings you here now and with such wicked wounds?”
“I made them,” Ilvani said before Ashok could answer.
“I see.” Darnae stood and went to one of the tables. She brought back a sheet of parchment, quill, and ink. Dipping the quill in the black liquid, she drew a quick sketch of one of the symbols Ashok had seen carved on Ilvani’s arm.
“Do you know what it means?” Ashok said.
Darnae sighed and nodded. “The language belongs to the peoples of northeastern Faerun-a high, cold, and mysterious country. Have you ever heard of Rashemen?”
Ashok shook his head, but Ilvani stared at Darnae steadily. “Snow and spirits,” she said.
“Yes,” said Darnae. “I’ve never traveled there myself, but put simply, that’s what Rashemen is, and that’s what this symbol means-’spirit.’ Their people worship the spirits of the land.”
“Telthor,” Ilvani said quietly.
Darnae nodded. “That’s the Rashemi name for them.”
“How do you know about the spirits, Ilvani?” Ashok asked.
“The woman told me,” Ilvani said. “The snow rabbit. The unproven. She tried to tell me more, but the darkness and the storm came between us.”
“The dust storm?” Ashok said. “You mean the same one that caught the caravan?”
Ilvani shook her head. “I see her in my dreams. The storm is in my dreams. It swallows us up.”
“The woman you saw might be one of the witches,” Darnae said. “They rule Rashemen and command the magic of the spirits.”
“But how is she able to contact Ilvani across an entire world, and why?” Ashok said.
Darnae shrugged. “Rashemi magic is said to be powerful. Whatever the witch’s reasons-”
“She’s in danger,” Ilvani said. “She asked me to help her, but I couldn’t.”
“It’s not only her,” Ashok said. He told Darnae what had happened earlier that day. When he’d finished, Darnae looked more concerned than ever.
“I’m so sorry, my friend,” she said, laying a small hand on Ashok’s arm. Ashok looked down at her tiny fingers and remembered how fragile she was-a child but not a child.
“I thought if you could decipher the symbols, we might be able to figure out why this is happening,” Ashok said. “But you can’t fight dreams.” He should know. The nightmare’s haunted visions had tested and beaten him once.
“There is something we haven’t considered,” Darnae said. “The shadow beasts and the shadar-kai are connected to the Shadowfell, which is itself a world of spirits. The witches of Rashemen have a similar connection to their telthors, and if some force is disturbing the natural order on the Shadowfell plane-”
“Then it’s possible something similar is happening to them in Faerun,” Ashok said.
It explained the pattern of the madness. The common animals in the trade district had been unaffected by Ilvani’s presence, and the shadow snake, the one that had tried to escape from Cree and Skagi, was smaller than its two-headed companion, weaker in mind perhaps and less connected to the Shadowfell and its influence.
“It could be the witch is reaching out to Ilvani to try to understand what’s happening.” Ashok looked at Ilvani to see what she thought of this, but the witch had stretched out on the floor with her head resting on her bandaged arm. She was asleep.
“She looks exhausted,” Darnae said. “Her dreams must be terrible.”
“It’s strange, though. I’ve never seen her as peaceful as she looks right now,” Ashok said. On the plain, she’d been broken, ready to die. Now she slept like a child, and she’d been more coherent speaking to Darnae than to anyone else. “Something about your presence calmed her.”
“I don’t think it has anything to do with me,” Darnae said. “But this building …”
“Ilvani seemed fascinated by the traces of magic.”
“It’s possible the magic was once protective in nature,” Darnae said. “If that’s true, then its echoes might be creating a barrier to the Shadowfell forces.”
“Whatever it’s doing, I’m grateful,” Ashok said. “She deserves some peace.”
“So do you,” Darnae observed.
Ashok shook his head. “Not until I find a way to stop what’s happening to her. This Rashemi witch wasn’t invited into her dreams.”
He took off his cloak and laid it over Ilvani’s sleeping body, taking care not to touch her. It was time to talk to Uwan and decide what action to take. He knew the leader would do everything in his power to protect Ilvani, if for no other reason than to safeguard her connection to Tempus.
“You should leave her here,” Darnae said. “Let her sleep while she can. I’ll watch over her.”
“Thank you,” he said. “I’ll be back for her soon.”
She offered him a fleeting smile. “Someday, at a more peaceful time, we will have that wine together.”
He clasped her small hand. “I’d like nothing better.”
Ashok found Skagi in the training yard, which was empty now. The recruits were occupied with other duties. Skagi had his falchion out and waved it in a series of midair strokes, but the movements were restless, with an edge that belied his calm exterior.
“What news?” he asked Ashok. “Where is the witch?”
“Safe,” Ashok said. “Our guess was right. Somehow, she’s causing the Shadowfell beasts to go mad, but the threat comes from her dreams.” He related what Darnae had told him.
Skagi cursed and sheathed his falchion. “What do we do about it?”
Ashok spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. He sympathized with the warrior. Like Skagi, he wanted an enemy in front of him, a clear target he could attack. Right now, they had neither.