That mind reading spell of Soliander’s seemed more and more like a good idea. He knew Matt better than the others and wondered if they should discuss doing it. The techie was as pragmatic as himself and could be persuaded with a good line of logic. Neither was as principled as Anna or Ryan. If they ever used it on someone, it would have to be when the other two weren’t around or Eric would never hear the end of it. Matt would likely admit it was Eric’s idea, sparing himself the judgment. Or at least some of it.
Besides, everyone knew Eric was the calculating one who would bend ethics when required. It came with his former life and he didn’t mind his friends knowing it. He sometimes felt they needed to accept the situations they were now in with these quests and that being honorable was great and all, but not if you ended up dead over it. He was the first to ditch such ethics and didn’t feel bad about it in the least. No one knew they were unwilling imposters ripped away from their lives without warning, and while the summoning wasn’t unethical by intent, it kind of was for the result. Being ignorant of a crime doesn’t make you not guilty of it, and while a summoning wasn’t a crime, it was still a great wrong done to them. If they had to bend ethics to survive, then so be it. They didn’t ask for this. Didn’t want it. Weren’t qualified. They just wanted to go home and back to their lives.
There was no sense in worrying about that, so he turned his mind to Novir. Why didn’t Novir just take the orb and fly to Ortham on Brazin’s back? Instead, he had taken part in summoning the Ellorian Champions. Eric went cold. Was Novir trying to bring them to the orb so they would get enthralled? They would be an enormous prize, one that might warrant being awarded a kingdom for it.
But then why would Novir help them get the fish eyes they needed for the spell that would prevent it? Because that spell didn’t exist on Rovell, so he hadn’t known about it when they were summoned. He must have been improvising, taking them to the dangerous Kirii Cave, hoping something happened to them. He got Sebast killed, but he must have known that Jolian could carry all four champions if necessary and it would only slow her. That must have been the intention. If he had gotten out of sight in time, they would not have known where to track him. The cave in and flight would have given him a head start to reach Ortham and tell the Lords of Fear that the plan to enthrall the Ellorian Champions would not work. This meant Eric and the others now had an advantage. They could pretend to be ensnared long enough to get close to the orb. It all made sense but was conjecture. He sighed but felt he had made sense of it, but he knew that he may have just been fooling himself.
Jolian soon banked to begin her landing, the tilt helping Eric see the ground. Sebast’s green dead body still lay where it had been among the trees and bushes. Nothing seemed to move. He saw no sign of the others and hoped this meant they were just staying out of sight. He looked for signs of fighting and saw none. Jolian landed smoothly despite carrying her brother in a front foot. She laid him down as Eric scanned for danger and saw his friends emerging from the tunnel entrance, unscathed. He climbed down to meet them and quickly filled them in.
“Did anyone eat the food they gave us? It may be poisoned,” he concluded, taking a few of the throwing knives that Ryan had collected for him. He had a half-dozen.
Ryan grunted and replied, “No. Didn’t think of it. We arrived a little before noon and the Quest Ring always makes us feel like we just ate a solid meal an hour earlier.”
Matt said, “If Novir knew that, he would have known we wouldn’t eat soon. Poisoning our water would have made more sense, but we all drank some before entering the cave before.”
“Nothing since?” He looked over at the saddle for Jolian, which sat upright on the ground. The one for Sebast was still on the dead dragon, half of it under the giant corpse. They wouldn’t be reaching anything they needed from that side unless Jolian moved the body. He wondered what was where. “Okay, listen, we’ll just replace everything in town.”
Looking at the unconscious Brazin, Ryan asked, “You’re sure he won’t wake up while you’re gone?”
Jolian responded, “He may but is well bound and cannot do magic for now. Keep a close eye on him. I suggest Soliander be ready with a binding spell if needed.”
Matt nodded, but Anna frowned at Eric and said, “I thought we agreed not to separate. Now you want to again.”
Eric assured her, “You guys should be safe here like before, just a little while longer.”
She persisted, “And what about you? I mean, sure, I understand that you have a dragon to protect you, but we know nothing about this town.”
Jolian, still in her natural form, interjected, “I am familiar with its reputation and we should have no trouble. There are far worse that we could visit, and they would be cause for concern.”
Anna didn’t look convinced. “What can you tell us? I really dislike not knowing about the places we go.”
“Yeah, I know,” Matt agreed. “I wish I had a spell that would help with that sort of thing.”
To Anna, the dragon replied, “Humans built Valegis before knowing the dwarves were here
