The Seal of Karga Kul_ A Dungeons & Dragons Novel - Alex Irvine [42]
“But you are tired and I am keeping you up for my own amusement. You must sleep, and grieve in what ways your traditions demand on the first night of a loss. In the morning we will talk further of Karga Kul. And,” he finished with another wink in Remy’s direction, “of messengers rescued in the desert.”
In the morning Remy woke feeling more refreshed than he would have thought possible. The forest air, the clean bed … the longer he was apart from civilization, he thought, the more he desired its trappings. Perhaps the adventurer’s life was not for him. Coming out of the cabin where Paelias had decreed they be put up for the night, Remy passed a group of elves gambling with what looked like ancient arrowheads as chips. He nodded to be polite, but expected no response and got none. Across the cleared center of the camp, he saw Paelias sitting with the rest of the group.
“You slept late,” Kithri said. “The rest of us have already been to Karga Kul and back.”
“Only in our minds, only in our minds,” Keverel said.
With a snap of his fingers, Paelias said, “That’s what planning is, going somewhere in your mind so when you get your body there you can get it out again.” He shook his head. “Karga Kul. Strange place.”
“You said last night you had never been there,” Biri-Daar reminded him.
“And you were kind enough to observe last night that I have much in the way of lore stuck to the inside of my head,” Paelias answered with a smile. “We are both correct. I would, however, like to see Karga Kul. What say you?”
“Let’s talk it over,” Kithri said.
Lucan and Paelias exchanged a glance. “Excuse us,” Lucan said.
Nodding and retreating, Paelias said, “Of course. I will be at our meeting place by the road. Yea or nay, inform me there.”
The first vote was three to two against. Remy, Lucan, and Kithri didn’t trust the eladrin. “And why should we?” Kithri asked. “He appears, wants to know our story, wants to come along at the drop of a hat … if you ask me, this is some trick because of Remy.”
“Because of me?” Remy repeated. He was confused.
“What you carry,” Lucan amended. “I agree. At least I agree that this is a possibility we must consider. Why would anyone want to come along with us when we’re probably all going to go off and die?”
“We’re not going to go off and die,” Biri-Daar said. “We have a sacred trust and we will fulfill it.”
“Except if we go off and die. Like Iriani.”
“Iriani,” Keverel said quietly, “is precisely why we could use someone like Paelias. The god provides.”
Other eladrin had ringed them in while they conversed; already Remy could tell them from the elves. The Feywild clung to them even in this world, as if they brought a bit of it with them whatever plane or region their bodies occupied. One of them stepped forward and spoke. “We do not endorse Paelias’s desire,” she said. “He is flighty and foolish and possesses powers whose extent and purpose he does not know.”
“Sounds like the rest of us,” Kithri said.
“Once before, Paelias left this wood in search of adventure,” the eladrin said after staring Kithri into silence. “When he returned, it was twenty years before he would speak of what had happened.”
“And what had happened?” Lucan asked.
“He got a number of his companions killed,” the eladrin said. “Because, as I have said, he is flighty and foolish. If you would take him with you, you must know this. We found it our duty to tell you.”
“Does anyone around here have anything good to say about him?” Kithri asked.
With a