Chapter 26 – Mordial
"Just as they have moved on beyond our world, so must we move on within it. Now go, and may the gods give you strength."
At the Soul Guild leader's dismissal, the crowd gathered in the burial chamber stirred and began to disperse. Some of them were more reluctant than others to make that final parting from their loved ones.
Solonn was one of those who lingered, staying seated on the stone floor and holding the now featureless space in the center of the room in a sorrowful gaze. Mere minutes ago,
they had been there, lifeless and encased in ice like all the others who'd died in the temple with them. Now that they were sealed away beneath the floor, their absence weighed on him more than ever. Once he left this chamber, he'd be leaving them behind for the rest of his life.
He wasn't left alone much longer. A prod at his side interrupted his thoughts, and he rose and turned to see who was responsible. There, he found one of the Security Guild members. She was looking up at him with an unspoken question—no, a
command—in her eyes.
"I've been sent by my guild to escort you," she said, telling Solonn nothing he hadn't already guessed. Hagen had told him he could expect such a thing. Still, Solonn frowned at her, wishing she weren't there—and not only for his own sake.
"You have better things to do right now," he told her quietly, "and you know it."
"I'm afraid that's not for you to decide," the guild member responded. She circled around and took up a position right behind him—or tried to. He turned to face her again the moment she got back there. "Get moving, please," she said. "I don't know where you live. You'll have to lead."
Solonn gave her an odd look. "Who said I was going home?"
"Well, it's not as though you have anything else to do, now is it?"
He did, but he most certainly couldn't tell her as much. Letting on that he still wanted to try and warn people of the threat they still faced would just get him knocked out and thrown in a cell. And no one would hear his warnings if he got himself shut away.
Meanwhile, Solonn didn't particularly like the thought of leading someone who didn't trust him (or at least answered to someone who didn't) back home. Very briefly, he considered trying to pick Zilag out of the crowd and go with him instead. He hadn't even been able to spot Zilag among the mourners, but Solonn was sure he was present. But associating himself with Zilag in front of the authorities quickly registered as a bad idea. He didn't want Zilag and his family to get wrapped up in any trouble that the Security Guild might give him.
But even if he avoided Zilag, Zilag was unlikely to avoid him—sooner or later, especially in the wake of what had happened, he'd probably pay Solonn a visit. And either that guild member or another would probably still be hanging around.
Resigned to that notion, he sighed and nodded to the guild member, then turned his back on her and began drifting toward the exit. After a short distance, he looked back to see if she was actually following him—she was. She was probably going to tail him literally anywhere and everywhere he went. Solonn gave one last glance toward Azvida and Jeneth's resting place, sending them a silent farewell and apology for having to leave so soon, then exited the chamber.
The presence behind him did nothing to put his mind at ease. She represented the mistrust of a leader who, as far as Solonn could tell, cared more about being right than about the welfare of his own people. She was also a constant reminder that the nation's defenders were being wasted on keeping people quiet rather than keeping them safe.
Maybe she trusted him better than the
lahain had, but Solonn couldn't help but suspect otherwise. The
lahain had said that he'd give Solonn and the other witnesses a chance to live free (or as free as one could be under constant watch) provided they could stay quiet. But Solonn couldn't put it past him to decide—or, the chilling thought occurred to him, to have already decided—to forcibly silence the witnesses after all.
Would she do it? he wondered of his escort. He couldn't be sure what she'd do once he was alone with her, though he felt fairly certain that she wouldn't just knock him out and drag him to prison before then. Some of the people sharing the tunnel with them hadn't been there at the temple or the council chamber; they might not understand why people who were supposed to protect them had suddenly turned on them. That in turn might force the guild members to take them out as well, in order to nip any loaded questions in the bud. Surely the guild would prefer to avoid that scenario.
At least, Solonn dearly hoped they would.
Before long, the tunnel branched off in multiple directions. The crowd began to split up down the separate paths, and Solonn's sense of safety in numbers began to fade. Already, he'd seen a couple of pairs split off and disappear down their chosen tunnels—did those pairs contain guild members? Were those guild members going to strike their charges down as soon as they got someplace private enough, and was the same true of the one who followed him?
It seemed there was truly nothing to be done about it other than continue on his way; another gentle but insistent prod of his escort's horn emphasized that point. Knowing no other way home from here, Solonn could only retrace his figurative steps and go back the way he'd come, choosing the path that led past the council chamber.
Very few others went that way along with him, and in the distance between the council chamber and what had once been the temple, the number of people taking his route quickly dwindled until there was only his escort. There were no potential witnesses now. No one to see, hear, or ask questions if the glalie behind him made a move.
And he wouldn't know she had until it was much too late. That was the thing about the mother element's highest power: it was summoned with a mere thought, and it struck in a near instant. It gave its victims virtually no warning…
…
Virtually none.
There
was a way to see it coming, Solonn remembered, astonished that he'd forgotten about that particular quirk of the technique. Then again, he hadn't actually seen it since the last time Azvida had hunted alongside him, back before he'd worked up the nerve to hunt on his own. That had been years ago.
Hoping his next actions wouldn't trigger the exact thing he was trying to avoid, he stopped and turned to face his escort, earning an odd look from her.
"Sir, what do you think you're doing?" she asked.
"I'm just going home, just as you suggested," Solonn said as evenly as he could, and with that he resumed his drift toward home, but in reverse.
The guild member maintained that baffled look upon him, but otherwise gave no objections and simply kept following him. Whether she knew why he was moving backward or had simply decided he was strange and she shouldn't try too hard to make sense of him, Solonn couldn't guess. But he wasn't really concerned about what was going on behind her eyes at this point. It was what happened
in them that mattered at the moment.
If she tried to fire off a
nhaza, he'd see it coming. The telltale white flash in its user's eyes just before its release would give it away. He kept a protect on standby, hoping dearly that he could call it up in time if she attempted anything against him.
Solonn had gone between his home and the temple so many times that he knew the way by heart; he was confident that he could navigate it backward. He knew the number and positions of all the offshoots of the main path, and he silently counted them as he passed them by—those landmarks would tell him when and which way to turn. All the while, he watched his escort's eyes; thus far, their light remained still and blue.
Their owner kept obligingly quiet as she followed him—to a point. Eventually, "Are we almost there?" she asked.
Solonn winced slightly, trying not to lose the number in his head. "Yes," he responded quickly, thankful that was the answer, "it's just a li—"
His voice was abruptly cut silent, lost in a loud
crack. Despite his efforts, he'd failed to see it coming. Its source emerged from an offshoot not far behind where Solonn now lay unconscious.
The newly arrived guild member rose a bit higher off the ground to see past Solonn. His partner returned his gaze with an approving nod, silently commending his work. He responded likewise, then sank back down to his normal hovering height and moved closer to their subdued target. The two officers secured the insensible glalie to themselves with ice, then lifted him with an effort and carried him away.
* * *
The next thing Solonn was aware of was pain: a somewhat dull throbbing sensation in the back of his head. Groaning, he stirred and lifted himself from the floor, slowly opening his eyes as he rose. What he saw left him all too certain about what had happened to him.
She'd got him. Somehow, in spite of his watchfulness, she'd managed to knock him out. Now he was imprisoned in one of their cells—and he wasn't alone. There was Grosh, lying half-coiled at the opposite side of the room, still out cold. Solonn made to rush to his father's side at once, but he was caught short by a familiar voice that spoke up in nearly the same instant.
"Good, you're awake. You can help out with the psychic, then."
Solonn turned toward its source. Seated nearby was none other than Zdir, the sole member of the council who'd seemed willing to hear the witnesses out, the only one who'd seemed willing to give Grosh and Oth a chance.
Solonn wondered what she was doing in their cell, though he certainly had his suspicions. But for now, he was much more concerned about Grosh and Oth—particularly the latter. He looked upon the claydol with concern tightening his brow; they were still utterly motionless, their hands still lying detached beside them, with nothing but the glow of their faint warmth to suggest that they were even alive.
That glow was notably dimmer than it should have been. The glalie who'd been guarding the cell had clearly done a sub-par job of keeping them warm—on purpose, Solonn suspected with disgust.
"Are they going to be all right?" he asked.
"Can't say," Zdir responded. "I don't even know what this creature is, let alone how they work. But I suspect they'll come to a lot faster if we can get them warmed up—and we need them to come to as soon as possible." She dipped a horn toward the other side of the room, where another glalie lay in the corner opposite Grosh. "I doubt he'll stay out much longer, and sooner or later his relief will show up."
Zdir turned back to Oth, lowering her head slightly and staring intently at him. "Try to draw the cold from this creature as fast as you can, but don't shut everything else out completely. We could have company at any moment now."
That thought certainly wasn't comforting. Nonetheless, Solonn tried to keep most of his mind on the task before him. It helped that it was his friend lying there in front of him. He most certainly didn't want to let them down.
Simply protecting another creature from the cold was generally effortless for his kind, but what Oth needed at this point was to be rid of a chill that had already settled into them. Solonn thought back to times when he'd made ice melt or turn to vapor—opposite actions to freezing. That was the power he needed to use, or rather a much slower and gentler version thereof.
He went to work at once. At his side, Zdir was doing likewise, and as the two worked together, Oth's temperature began to return to normal.
Moments passed, and Solonn began to wonder if maybe he and Zdir should stop—he didn't want Oth to become overheated. Just as he was about to voice that concern, the claydol awoke, a few of their presently half-closed eyes simultaneously meeting the gaze of the two glalie at their side.
<What…> they began, their mindvoice and their true voice both sounding weak. <Solonn… what is happening?>
"We'll have to explain later," Zdir spoke up before Solonn could even begin to answer. "First, we need to get out of here, all of us. We need you to transport us."
Oth wobbled in place for a moment, struggling to rise, their hands ascending to rejoin their body at different speeds. They tried again almost immediately and succeeded this time, but Solonn remained concerned for them. With a particular vulnerability to the ice element, recovering from an ice-type strike must surely be all the more difficult.
<Where?> Oth asked, still clearly fighting to keep their levitation stable even as they spoke.
"As far away from here as possible," Zdir said.
Oth nodded slightly and began floating slowly and less than gracefully toward Grosh. Once the claydol was at his side, they proceeded to scan him, checking to make sure the steelix was in any fit state for teleportation.
"We need to go," Zdir reminded them urgently.
Thankfully, Oth's work didn't take much longer. <Come here,> they said to the two glalie, who went to join Oth and Grosh at once, Zdir lagging slightly behind.
"Oth… are you up to teleporting right now?" Solonn asked, worried not only for the claydol's sake but their passengers', as well. If Oth wasn't quite strong enough to teleport them, and something went wrong… Solonn didn't know what the results might be, but he strongly suspected they weren't pretty.
<Yes,> Oth said. <Do not worry… What about him?> they then asked, gesturing toward the unconscious guard in the corner with one of their hands.
"Leave him. He's not with us," Zdir told them. "Now go!"
Without another moment's delay, the claydol delivered the prisoners from their cell.
* * *
The golden glow faded out, and its passengers found themselves in a place that contrasted greatly with their previous surroundings. The sky, though overcast, was backlit by late afternoon sunlight, and nearly everything below it was blanketed in green. Steady white noise filled the air: the rushing of a waterfall that lay on the opposite side of a deep, wide chasm and poured endlessly into a river below.
Zdir eyed the water with uncertainty. "Where are we now?"
<Mordial,> Oth answered. <Do not worry—we are nowhere near your territory.> They turned to face the forest behind them, moving a very short distance into it. <There is an herb that grows here that will help Grosh greatly,> they said, gesturing toward the trees. <I will try to find some of it for him as quickly as possible.>
"It would probably be found faster if more than one of us searches for it," Solonn said. "What does it look like?"
There was a brief delay in Oth's response, and then an image appeared in the two glalie's minds simultaneously. The herb in question was a bright yellow-green, with long leaves that curled slightly at their tips. It seemed vaguely familiar to Solonn, but he couldn't really recall anything about it for certain.
"All right," he said, moving to Oth's side. He turned back to look at Grosh, who was still lying there helplessly. Though searching for this herb would benefit the steelix, Solonn found himself reluctant to leave him there in that condition.
"I'll stay with him," Zdir spoke up, having read Solonn's hesitance correctly. "And don't try too hard to rush back; this herb you speak of sounds like it might be something we'd do well to have readily available. Gathering more of it than he needs would be a good idea."
"Agreed," Solonn said. "And… thank you for agreeing to stay with him," he added sincerely. The significance of her decision wasn't lost on him—here was a Virc and a near-total stranger to boot, willing to be left alone with a creature whom so many of her people had feared. "It's good to see someone else who doesn't fear him."
"If what you claimed he was doing in the temple is true, then I have nothing at all to fear from him," Zdir said. "And I'm inclined to believe that it is."
The light in Solonn's eyes brightened and trembled. He thought to say something in response, but he was moved beyond words. The way Zdir was treating his father and his friend contrasted so greatly with the way the
lahain had that for a moment, it all but overwhelmed him.
"…Thank you," he finally managed, very quietly. Then he turned and allowed Oth to lead him deeper into the forest.
Making his way among that many trees was no easier for Solonn than it had ever been, but the relatively slow pace at which the two moved helped him avoid losing track of Oth. They didn't rush, scanning the ground carefully for the plant they sought, but Solonn couldn't help but suspect that Oth couldn't speed up even if they wanted to. Their levitation was still a little unsteady; it was clear they still had some recovering to do. Their condition had actually factored into his decision to join them in their search for the herb; he was even less comfortable with the notion of leaving Oth all alone.
"How common is it?" he asked. "How long do you think we'll need to look?"
<Not terribly common,> Oth answered, <but fortunately not terribly rare in this area, either. I think we will be able to gather a sufficient amount within a reasonable frame of time.>
Solonn nodded slightly, but he couldn't help making a faint, disappointed noise. Whatever Oth considered a "reasonable frame of time" probably wasn't as short as he hoped. Aid for his father just couldn't come soon enough as far as he was concerned.
At least something will
be done for him, he told himself silently. That was more than could be said for most of the people who were affected by the recent tragedies…
"Oth," he spoke up; he saw the claydol pause and turn to face him from a couple of yards away. "Thank you for doing this, for bringing us here," he told them. "I'm glad you're willing and able to help him."
Oth lowered their head in acknowledgment of Solonn's gratitude. <You are welcome,> they said softly.
Relative silence fell over Solonn and Oth as the search wore on, neither of them saying anything. The very faint skittering and buzzing of insects and the calls of birds in the background were the only sounds either of them could hear. Then, finally, <There! I have found some!> Oth said, beckoning with one of their hands, then sped up slightly as they made their way forward and to the left. Solonn followed, and soon the two reached a small cluster of plants that matched the picture Oth had provided. Oth telekinetically harvested the leaves, lifting them into the air, then gathered the leaves up against their chest with their hands and held them there.
<This will serve Grosh with plenty to spare,> Oth said. <We should be able to return now.>
Solonn eyed the gathered herb samples; there looked to be about half a dozen of them. He hoped Oth was right about there being enough, all the while trying, with no real success, not to think about why keeping the medicine in stock had become prudent.
Well… if it's not enough, we could always come back for more later, he figured, and he couldn't help but suspect darkly that they'd end up having to do so sooner rather than later. "All right, let's go," he said, and the two of them began making their way back through the forest.
Upon returning to Grosh and Zdir, they found the steelix still unconscious. Zdir was waiting next to Grosh's head. She looked up from where she sat to acknowledge Solonn and Oth as they took their places at her sides.
Oth let go of the leaves and brought them together in a tight bundle in midair, right in front of Grosh's face. The claydol kept them hovering there for a few moments, letting Grosh breathe in the scent of the leaves for a while. Eventually, the steelix stirred, albeit not much; his head rose a couple of inches off of the ground, and he groaned very faintly, but his eyes remained closed.
<Open your mouth,> Oth instructed him gently.
There was a slight delay, but then Grosh's mouth fell open, the jaws slackened. Oth let one of the leaves drift free from the bundle as they brought the rest back up against their chest, directing it onto the steelix's tongue. The flavor awakened Grosh further; his eyes opened partway, unfocused for the moment, and he grimaced, his mouth working as though he were trying to get the offending herb out.
<No, Grosh. You need to consume it.>
That earned another faint groan from the steelix, but Grosh complied nonetheless, closing his jaws and forcing the herb down. He shuddered and stretched, flexing and twisting his segments, then slowly lifted his head further and shook it a bit as if trying to clear something out of it.
Blinking a few times in succession, he stared out at the unfamiliar scene before him for a moment, finally coming back to his senses in earnest, then turned his gaze upon his son.
"Where…?" he asked hoarsely, unable to finish the question.
Where is she? Solonn couldn't help but suspect that meant, judging by the anguished look on the steelix's face. But he couldn't quite find the strength to speak of Azvida, especially not with his father's grief staring him in the face and stoking his own all the higher.
Sinking wearily to the ground, "We're in Mordial," Solonn finally responded, answering a different but likely present question. "We had to flee Virc-Dho… we were being imprisoned there."
Grosh's reaction was delayed, but when it came through, there was something dark in his expression, something that spoke of burgeoning, sickened outrage. "No…"
"I'm afraid so," Zdir said. "You and… Oth, was it?" She looked to the claydol, who nodded. "You were deemed responsible for the murders in the temple and the kidnapping of the children who were at the snowgrounds at the time."
Oth's reaction was left untranslated, but the gist of it was clear enough: they sounded distinctly astonished, even hurt. Unconsciously, they reeled back a bit from the others, then lowered their head and closed all of their eyes. Grosh, meanwhile, reared back as if something had lashed out at him, the motion surprisingly forceful for someone who'd just regained consciousness, and his expression was both the most furious and the most pained that Solonn had ever seen.
"How
dare they…" the steelix said in a near-bottomless tone, one that somehow sounded just as vulnerable as it did threatening. Fresh streams of tears welled up and poured from his eyes. "How dare
anyone even
suggest that I'd—" He winced at the thought, shaking with fury. "—that I'd do
anything to hurt her!"
"They also accused you of stealing her son," Solonn said quietly past a lump in his throat. "Jen… he was in the snowgrounds. He was taken."
Grosh just stared at him for a moment, still shaking, his jaws parting silently and his eyes widening further in the wake of that news. Then his head sank, his gaze dropping to the ground, tears still falling. "Dear God…" he all but whispered, the words cracking. "And… God, I would
never…" he managed before his ability to speak failed him altogether.
"I tried to tell them that," Solonn said miserably. Hearing the hurt in his father's voice worsened his guilt and shame over failing to get through to the
lahain all the more. "I tried to tell them you wouldn't hurt anyone, either of you…"
"We both did," Zdir added. "I refused to take 'it's not possible' as an answer from the rest of the council, even knowing what it would cost me."
What she seemed to be suggesting came as no real surprise to Solonn. "He dismissed you from the council, didn't he?"
Zdir nodded. "Tried to take me out and throw me in the cell right alongside you three, furthermore, but I saw that coming and headed it off. The
lahain—our leader," she added for the benefit of Grosh and Oth, "just couldn't stand to take any chances with those of us who weren't so willing to let people believe his conclusions."
<Those who were at the temple when we arrived there… the survivors… they saw that we were not the ones responsible, did they not? What about them?> Oth asked.
"Oh, I don't think the
lahain is concerned about what
they saw anymore," Solonn said bitterly. "He seems to have them all convinced that they were only being tricked into seeing glalie attacking them…" He was almost too ashamed to elaborate any further, to tell Oth how his fellow countryman had portrayed them, but finally managed to do so. "He said that you'd deceived them psychically."
There was a very small delay in the claydol's reaction. Then their eyes all widened dramatically, and a noise escaped them that suggested they were even struggling to speak in their true voice, let alone their mindvoice.
"I don't think I can apologize enough for how you've been wronged, all of you," Zdir said sincerely. "Just… just know that not everyone believes these horrible things about you two," she said with a glance toward Grosh and Oth, "and that you," she said to Solonn as she turned to face him, "weren't wrong to stand up for them."
Grosh's only response was something between a growl and a sigh, the look on his face telling that he was far from consoled. Solonn looked at him regretfully, knowing that even just one person believing that Grosh could have done something so horrible to someone he loved so much was one too many for the steelix to bear. He wished dearly that he could have done more to prevent his father from having been accused of such things.
Oth lowered their head slightly, some of their eyes shutting halfway and the rest closing completely. They tried and failed to speak again, but finally managed it on the third attempt. <…I appreciate your trust,> they said, both of their voices subdued, <and I thank you for it. I just wish there were something more that I could do for you and for your people. You are still in danger since whoever was actually responsible has not been identified, let alone apprehended… and in return for rescuing us, you deserve anything I could give.>
"Well… perhaps it's a good thing you feel that way," Zdir said. "Perhaps it's a very good thing…" She rose, moving back a bit so she could hold eye contact with all three of the others more easily. "Against our enemies, there's little we can do. We don't know exactly how many there are—though if they're who I think they are, they number in the dozens. At least."
"Oh gods…" Solonn hadn't imagined they were quite
that numerous—the thought of how high the death toll might be if the enemy were to attack in full force made him feel like his blood had frozen in his veins. "This is exactly why the people back home need to be made aware that the real threat's still out there. None of them have any idea just how much danger they're in!"
"Actually, I suspect they're about to find out it's not over yet," Zdir told him. "By now, the Security Guild has probably discovered the empty cell we left behind. I imagine the people will be told about the escape and warned of the possibility of future attacks by more of those 'illusory' glalie."
Solonn looked at her in silence, conflicted about what she'd just told him. Though the Virc still wouldn't know the whole truth, they'd at least know to look out for trouble from other glalie now. It was a step in the right direction… but still, the Virc would likely continue to believe that two people who meant very much to him were there behind those glalie…
"Anyway," Zdir went on, "the exiles are clearly well-trained to have been able to take as many lives as they did. My point is, if any of you are thinking of vengeance, I'm afraid you'll need to think otherwise."
The noise Grosh made at that and the way he shifted uneasily suggested that he was indeed harboring such thoughts, at least to some degree. An image of what the steelix would likely do to Azvida's killers appeared in Solonn's mind, an image of powerful steel coils crushing bodies, a massive tail falling like a hammer and splitting them wide open… Solonn shuddered hard, grimacing, fighting at once to get the gruesome thoughts off his mind.
"There is, however, one thing we may be able to do," Zdir said. "I believe we might very well have a good chance of being able to rescue the children—a better chance than the Security Guild might have, anyway."
Four of the eyes upon her widened instantly, and all of Oth's blinked in surprise. <You truly believe we are capable of such a thing, given the advantages you believe these exiles to have?> they said.
"We have advantages of our own—you especially," Zdir responded. "Your ability to teleport people could prove invaluable in getting us out of a dangerous situation, getting the children away from their captors, getting anyone who's suffered any harm the help they'd need…"
She turned a meaningful gaze on Solonn while speaking those last several words, and he recognized just what she was referring to. He'd mentioned the Haven back in the council chamber, albeit not by name. It was a resource that, as far as he could figure, the Security Guild couldn't provide for the kidnapped children, or for any of their would-be rescuers if it came to that.
<I… must confess that I have a particular concern about this,> Oth said. <While it is true that I can do as you say, the nature of our enemies presents a problem that could undermine my ability to help in that capacity: conceivably, any one of them could subdue me—and for that matter, any of us—in an instant, without warning.>
"Oh, there's a warning that comes with it, if you're talking about what I think you're talking about," Zdir said as she turned to face the claydol. "If it's sheer cold or its mother technique, there's an elemental telltale preceding them that you can feel and react to if you know how. How else do you suppose I avoided being knocked out and shut away with the rest of you? Get away with living for as long as I have and do the kind of work that I've done and you learn a few things."
Solonn stared at her, not sure what to think of her claim. Yes, those techniques came with a perceptible elemental surge. But in his experience, the part of it that came
before the execution of those techniques could only be felt by their
user. Any observers would only be able to feel the part that accompanied the execution at the most, with no time to react to it.
But then again, that was only what he knew from
his experience. Zdir's extended back decades before his—quite conceivably time enough, he supposed, to have trained herself to catch that telltale in time to thwart such an attack.
<Well,> Oth said, sounding slightly relieved, <if you can indeed perceive these attacks before they connect, I could share in your perception and thereby teleport us away in response… if you will consent to the mental link, of course.>
"Of course," Zdir said. "So I take it that means you're willing to take this on?"
<I will,> Oth confirmed.
Zdir gave a faint smile of gratitude. "Thank you," she said earnestly. "Your decision could save lives."
She turned to Solonn again, and the question in that look was as obvious as if it had been spoken aloud. He hesitated to answer at first, still uncertain about their chances and all too aware of what could befall them if they failed, and he couldn't keep the fear out of his eyes.
But ultimately, he couldn't deny that he felt even worse about how someone especially vulnerable to ice and someone Zdir's age would fare on their own. They and the children who might very well depend on them needed all the help they could get. Solonn didn't know what the exiles had in store for the snorunt they'd taken, but every possibility that came to his mind was unacceptable—especially where a member of his own family was concerned.
"Yes," he told her quietly. "My brother's out there—if there's anything I can do to help bring him back, I will."
"Well then," Grosh spoke up, lifting his upper body from the ground once more. "You could've counted me in from the start, but now it's even less of a question—I
have to go with you."
Zdir held his gaze for a moment, then turned away with a faint, concerned sound. "Grosh…" she began uneasily, "as much as I'd appreciate your help, I'm… well…"
"You're what?" Grosh urged her to finish as gently and calmly as he could manage, which wasn't much of either under the circumstances.
"I'm concerned that your accompanying us would be at the expense of something we need to have on our side—specifically the need to keep our enemies from becoming aware of our presence well before we're aware of theirs. Grosh… was it you who came to Virc-Dho all those years ago? Were you the silver creature whom people described as… well, as making a lot of noise whenever he moved?"
The steelix blinked, then groaned, recognizing what Zdir was getting at there. "Yes… yes, that was me," he said, wilting with a sigh. "You're right… there's no way they wouldn't hear us coming if I went with you."
<Perhaps… that is not necessarily true,> Oth said a bit hesitantly. All eyes turned toward them. <I think I might be able to keep him off the ground. That should eliminate the sound of his slithering.>
Solonn frowned at Oth. It wasn't that he didn't want them to try what they were suggesting—he knew how much his father wanted to pitch in on this mission, knew what it meant to him. He was just concerned about them exerting themself in such a way. Even though they'd been specifically trained for shows of strength, it would be no easy feat even to lift, let alone carry, something as heavy as Grosh had to be. Not to mention the fact that given their recent ordeal, Oth surely wasn't in peak condition…
Holding his tongue, not wanting to undermine Oth's confidence and make them choke, Solonn watched as bright, fuchsia light filled the claydol's eyes. Slowly, Grosh rose up from the grass, coming to a stop just a few inches off the ground. Oth held him there for a few seconds… but then the light in their eyes began to falter. The claydol shook slightly as they struggled to maintain their telekinetic hold on him, but not for long—they abruptly lost their grip, and Grosh fell back down with a loud
thunk that sent birds from the forest behind them scattering into the air.
Oth hovered unsteadily for a moment, their hands hanging lower than usual as they worked to regather their telekinetic strength. <I am fine…> they told the others, noticing their worried expressions, <and I am sorry,> they said to Grosh.
"That's all right," Grosh told them, his voice a low, resigned rumble. "You don't need to be busting your brain carrying me around, and I don't need to be slowing you all down by making you have to stop every few seconds to give Oth a break. I can stay here," he said, though the words were followed by a sigh that told that he still dearly wished he didn't have to.
Zdir nodded at him, though she looked earnestly sympathetic. "I'm sorry you can't join us," she told him. "Don't worry—we'll do our best to return safely." She turned to Oth. "Before we begin our search, I have a few relatives whom I think we should inform about the situation—at the very least, I think they deserve to know what I intend to get myself into. Is there anyone you feel you need to pay a brief visit to before we head out?" she asked of the claydol.
<No,> Oth said. They gathered the unused herb samples back up as they spoke; the leaves had fallen during the claydol's attempt to hold Grosh aloft. <I am ready whenever the rest of you are.>
"And you?" Zdir asked Solonn.
Solonn nodded. "Just one stop," he said. Part of him wouldn't have minded getting a chance to touch base with his old friends from Lilycove again, now that Oth's presence made such possible. Especially since he couldn't help but think that the extra stops Zdir proposed were partly intended as a chance to say goodbye… just in case. But he was concerned about taking too much of the time that could be spent searching for the snorunt; he didn't know how much they had to spare.
He'd have answered Zdir's question just as Oth had if it weren't for the fact that Zilag and his family were back there in Virc-Dho—and therefore potentially in harm's way. He wanted to make absolutely certain that they knew the threat hadn't passed.
"All right," Zdir said. "Come on, then. We should be on our way."
"Just please come back safely," Grosh said. "Bring her sons back—
both of them."
"We will try," Zdir tried to assure him.
Solonn looked to his father, swallowing against a lump in his throat at the pain and worry still plain on the steelix's face. "Goodbye," he said with difficulty.
"Goodbye," Grosh returned hoarsely. "Please be careful.
Please."
Solonn could only nod in acceptance of Grosh's plea, hoping to all gods that everything would turn out all right as Mordial vanished from his sight.