surface of the floor as fast as he could, raced toward the doorway where the rest of his companions awaited him.
'Go!' he shouted. 'I'll catch up!'
The elves began to vanish, retreating from the chamber. Arbeenok remained, waiting for Vambran to reach them. Behind him, Vambran could sense the worm moving toward him again, could almost feel the tentacles reaching out, grasping at him.
He scampered faster.
Vambran finally reached the alaghi and together, they departed the great chamber. As they moved, Vambran still climbing the stony surfaces and Arbeenok using a length of kelp rope, Vambran said, 'So, please tell me this was the place from your vision.'
The alaghi chuckled. 'Indeed. It was magnificent once, don't you think?'
A horrific thud on the underside of the stone wall bounced them both. Vambran could only guess what the worm was doing inside.
'What I think is, we'd better hurry.'
Out beyond the great hall, the rest of the group was already climbing the canted street, working their way toward the top of the hill. Water was spilling down the slope, runoff from above. Vambran stared at it. 'That wasn't happening before,' he said.
'The worm's vibrations must have shifted some of the rock,' Arbeenok said. 'The chamber may be flooding now.'
Vambran found himself thinking of the enchanted sword, wondering if it would still defend its home once it was submerged.
The return trip to the cave was uneventful, though Serille seemed pensive for most of the way. When pressed about her mood, she replied, 'I lost three today.'
Vambran nodded. 'I'm sorry,' he said. 'Who were they?'
Serille looked at him with puzzlement. 'Why does it matter to you?'
'I grieve for everyone who falls in battle. It helps me keep the cause of the fight in the forefront of my mind, making sure they never die in vain.'
'Ah,' the sea elf said. 'Then you will be sad to know that Ishuliga was one of the three.'
Vambran was surprised at the depth of his own sorrow.
At the cave, the mercenary and the druid gathered their belongings and with a smaller escort, departed for the surface. They were bestowed with the enchanted necklaces as farewell gifts. 'For the next time you come to visit me,' Serille said with a mischievous look in her eye.
After bidding farewell to Serille and the other sea elves, Vambran and Arbeenok walked up the beach toward the rocks. The last rays of the setting sun were fading in the western sky, and Vambran felt some remorse in parting ways with the elves. But he also felt a keen sense of urgency to return to Reth with the healing power of the scepter.
'Have you figured out what must be done with it?' he asked Arbeenok, who was fondling the object delicately.
'I am becoming attuned to it,' the alaghi replied, 'but I am also simply enjoying the history of it. Imagine-this was created over fifteen hundred years ago by elves who lived in a forest twice as large as what we know here now. And the landscape wasn't even remotely similar. This might have been uplands, low hills running along a ridge of mountains that no longer exist, for all we know.'
Vambran regarded the druid. 'You have a knack for seeing things in a grander way than most people. Nature made a good choice in granting you the ability of portents and visions.'
When Arbeenok smiled, Vambran thought he could detect a glint in the druid's eye.
'We must hurry, though,' the lieutenant said at last, breaking the moment. 'People in Reth are dying even as we stand here.'
'We will reach her in time,' Arbeenok said, understanding Vambran's thoughts without the mercenary needing to voice them. 'My slowing magic should still be effective.'
'I hope so,' Vambran remarked. 'The only way we'll reach her in time is to travel into the city the same way we departed. Can you do that?'
Arbeenok nodded and stepped back from his companion in order to have room to transform. He shifted and twisted to become a giant hawk, then the druid lofted himself into the air, reaching out with his talons to grasp Vambran by the shoulders as he had before.
Together, they soared into the sky, gliding their way toward the city and the plague.
It was nightfall by the time they landed in the city street near the villa where they had left Elenthia that morning. As soon as they arrived, Vambran was running into the home, calling to the woman. 'Elenthia! Elenthia, we've returned. We found a way to heal you!'
Elenthia was not where Vambran had left her.
Vambran called frantically for a few moments, running from room to room, but the woman was nowhere to be found. He raced back down to the garden, trying to guess what might have happened to her. He jogged through the gate and out into the street, calling to Arbeenok.
The druid was surrounded by mercenaries of the Order of the Silver Raven, many of them holding lanterns aloft. They held crossbows leveled at him.
When Vambran appeared, several more soldiers moved to surround him, though they stayed back far enough that they clearly showed their fear of contracting the plague from the two visitors.
'You will stand very still, or we will kill you on the spot,' one of the Silver Ravens said.
'All right,' Vambran answered, remaining motionless. 'But may I speak?'
'Only to answer our questions,' the leader replied. 'First, what are you doing here?'
'We've brought a cure for the plague,' Vambran said, 'and we've returned to this spot because I left a woman here. She had magical healing placed upon her by my druid friend here so she would not get sicker and die.'
'A druid? I think not,' the man said. 'The only thing druids are good for is dying.'
Vambran had to clench his teeth to avoid an angry outburst. Instead, he simply said, 'My men and yours have been at odds for the last several days, but if you give us a chance, we can show you that I speak the truth. If we can cure the plague, would you want to hinder us?'
The soldier considered Vambran for a moment, then shook his head. 'I won't make this decision myself,' he said. 'We'll leave this up to Captain Havalla.' He turned and ordered a runner to fetch the captain, and the young soldier sprinted off to find the officer.
'May I ask if you know what happened to the woman I left here this morning?' Vambran asked. 'She was too sick to go very far on her own.'
'Someone undoubtedly found her,' the soldier said, 'and rounded her up into the middle of the city, in the quarantine camp, with all the rest.'
Vambran was aghast. 'But the plague works so fast!' he said. 'Anyone who has it is likely to die and rise as a zombie!'
The man nodded, looking grim. 'It's the only way we could control it,' he said. 'No one has been able to figure out what else to do. We're waiting for healers from Arrabar to arrive, but that could take days.'
'Then let us help,' Vambran said, feeling desperate. 'Let us go to the quarantine camp and see what we can do to cure those people!'
At just that moment, a commotion began behind the soldier who had been speaking with Vambran. A runner appeared and began whispering to the men. When the soldier in charge heard what the runner had to report, he paled.
'What is it?' Vambran asked. 'What's happening?'
'Zombies have gotten free of the quarantine area,' the man said. 'They're moving through the sewers and coming up in other areas of the city. We didn't contain them after all.'
Men who had been steady and confident a moment before began milling about in panic, eyeing the sewer openings in the middle of the streets. Others turned and ran, despite shouted orders from others half-heartedly demanding that they stand their ground. Vambran knew that the confusion might be the only chance to escape and employ the scepter, but something told him that their chances were better if they could win over the leader of the
