October 3rd

The weather was dry and cool, a little below 60 degrees. Great marching weather. They had just circumnavigated Brett's Town. El Sid had picked up four horses and a week's worth of oats for forty gold, putting everyone on horseback and leaving one pack animal. The four were just riding animals, but even a light war horse would have cost more than all four riding animals together.

Cookie was left afoot, too heavy for the back of any horse other than Johnny Rotten... and only El Sid rode Johnny Rotten. The end result was that they didn't move much faster, but it gave them more flexibility if they had to split up for some reason.

El Sid had also gathered some information on Korbit's hole. "The townspeople called it a 'big hole'" he had explained. No one was very satisfied, and they decided to investigate themselves as they moved down the coast. This had gone slowly, as searching the sometimes rugged terrain was painful going, but they had entered the area they thought the hole should be during the evening, setting up camp with plans to search in the morning. Cookie was busy getting a cheerful blaze going and rummaging around while deciding what to do about dinner. Fuji and Delrin were on guard, while El Sid and Dom did guy things together, Glorm practiced with Blackheart, and Krinn argued with herself, sometimes violently. A typical evening.

"Halloooowwww" called a voice. This was not typical, even untypical.

The group gathered weapons and started preps while attempting to appear nonchalant. It didn't work very well. "May we join you?" called the voice, speaking with a heavy Pranan accent.

"Sure!" called Delrin. By this time, everyone could see it was a group of six men in robes. They carried staffs that could be used as weapons, but had no obvious armor and approached carefully, clearly trying to avoid alarming anyone.

The leader said more quietly as he approached "I am Cazar Din, a priest of Farith, order of the ruby."

El Sid nodded politely. "I'm sorry, Farith is not well know in Kethem..."

Cazar smiled. "Farith is the Earth God. He ascended from the Granite of Mount Duzr to mate with Releta, Goddess of the Air. Born of both was Verrif, Lord of Fire, and Fleus, Lord of Water."

El Sid answered thoughtfully "which would tend to make him the big daddy of the elemental gods in Pranan, right?"

Cazar grinned wider. "Of course. Then again, the Priests of Releta have a slightly different story, as do those of Verrif and Fleus. But ours is obviously the correct one."

Delrin suddenly broke in. "Cazar, let us offer you a warm campfire and some of the finest food you will ever find. My friend Cookie is truly a wizard with his cleaver and pot. Ahhh, but I am being rude. Let me introduce myself; I am Delrin, wandering Druid of the 3rd circle, and these are my companions Sid, Dom, Cookie, Fuji, Glorm and of course the lovely Krinn. If it would not interfere with your ceremony, perhaps Glorm could tempt you with some of his fine brandy. You know we druids do not always get along with all of the elemental priest, particularly fire, but I have always felt a certain kinship with you earth priest. The earth, of all the elements, is the heart of Gaia. Have you ever visited my Bretheren in the sacred Groves west of here?"

c-c-CRACK! The sickening crushed-pumpkin sound of Delrin's skull as the hilt of Dom's sword 'accidentally' impacted his occiput made all around cringe mentally and go "E-e-e-U-u-u-u!" verbally.

"Oh, ex-c-u-s-e me, Delrin! It's my damn focal epilepsy again!" Dom turned to the startled priests who looked agape at the crumpled Druid and the blood pooling at the back of his head.

"Got some residual brain damage from an arbalest pellet that my helmet didn't stop," he said tapping the side of his noggin, "Ever since then, I get the odd fit in my sword arm. Damned inconvenient, let me tell you!"

The Earth clerics smiled and nodded sagely, yes, no question but that those closed head trauma injuries were a bitch.

"And not terribly amenable to herbal therapy, either I'll wager," ventured one.

"Right you are," Dom replied, "I've tried pizzlestick root, chia pet leaf and pure unadulterated dry-rot wood with no relief!"

The two men nodded at each other in understanding.

"Anyway, what our somewhat dim Druid friend was trying to say was that I'm Sonyo and this is Honda, my cousin twice-removed. We're Mithral Sajok out of Kanday. Pleased to make you acquaintance!"

The Don extended his right thumb. The Earth Priest was apparently familiar with Kanday custom and hooked it with his own. After several seconds of 'Ooga-Ooga-ing' and the touching of hands, knees and elbows, the two withdrew with broad grins.

"Well, let my put a patch on ol' Delrin's head here," continued Don as the Druid began to groan and stir.

"Fortunately, it's almost impossible to hurt him there. Yuck-yuck!" farting loudly as he bent over to bind a dirty rag around Delrin's head.

That broke the ice all around and soon both groups were swapping stories and lies while waiting for Cookie's dinner. 'Honda' sat somewhat apart with Delrin and whispered somewhat intensely into his left ear for a long while. Something about vivisection was all Glorm was able to over hear...

In the meantime, El Sid continued talking with the priests "May I ask what brings you to this somewhat out of the way area?" he asked politely.

Cazar replied in surprise "Why, Korbit's Hole, of course."

"Korbit's Hole?" asked El Sid, playing dumb.

Cazar looked at him in amazement. "You don't know you are near Korbit's Hole?" El Sid shook his head negatively. Cazar continued "Korbit's Hole is a large hole, about forty feet across. The walls are sheer, but not smooth. It goes down an indeterminate distance. Some have tried to descend into it with fly spells and the like. The deepest know penetration was about a half mile down as monitored by telepathic communication; the people that hit that depth disappeared at that point without any indication of a problem, reporting nothing but an unending shaft with no exits."

El Sid nodded. "Interesting, but I'm not sure why that makes it a religiously significant geographic feature."

Cazar answered "Korbit. Korbit was a Archpriest of Provos Doombringer in the year 9943, back at the height of the Lanotalis Empire. He claimed to have a mystic vision that told him that the hole was the mouth of God."

"Of Provos?" interrupted Delrin.

"No. Of a single God. Korbit claimed that there was one God, and that all the other Ghods were nothing but facets of the one."

Delrin and Krinn shuddered. "Blaspheme!" said Delrin.

Cazar nodded. "Yes, clearly he was mad. But he came to the hole, back then called the Mouth Of Hell, saying he would prove his insane story. He said that the hunger of so great a God could only be sated with the soul of one of the Astral Gods, who he claimed were demons. He sat on the edge of the hole for three days and four nights without food or water. On the fourth day, he stood and threw himself in. That night, one of the moons did not rise."

Krinn looked out into the deepening twilight and saw small Belladurn chasing the larger Wressel across the sky. Both moons were just peeking over the horizon at the beginning of their nightly race, the nimble Belladurn fated to surpass the mightier warrior as he had so many nights before. Or so the stories her father had told her when she was a child went, the two good friends too competitive for their own good, destined to complete their final race only to have to do it the next night at Wressel's anguished insistence. Of course, her mother told her they were just large, airless planetoids circling the world, but she liked to think her father was correct on some metaphysical plane. "They both look OK to me!" she commented.

Cazar smiled. "Yes, but back then there were three moons."

Krinn blinked. "Oh." She wondered why that had never come up in her lessons on her mother's estate.

El Sid asked "again, interesting, perhaps of great significance to Provos Clerics, but why would Farith want his priests to journey to such a place?"

Cazar frowned this time. "Korbit was correct on some level that the hole is something... special. We believe that this may be the mouth of Farith, and that the moon was taken because it is a planetoid with no air, no water, and no fire, only earth. We have found that for the faithful who sit for three days and four nights, fasting and meditating, things come to them... visions.

She always knew her father's stories were a load of crap Krinn reflected angrily.

Cookie spoke up. "Me make visions for you with special mushroom soup. No need to wait days with no food."

El Sid glared at the troll, then continued "Oh, really! How inspirational! What types of visions do the faithful have? Are they the same after their experience or have they been 'enlightened'? Are they able to do multidimensional gravity transformations in their heads afterwards? REALLY? Oh, NEAT! I truly envy you gentlemen!"

"Most have visions of some personal significance that help them come to see things in a clearer light and with better understanding. It is very personal and varies from person to person."

El Sid frowned a bit. "You mean like seeing an event in the past that will explain something in the present?"

Cazar shook his head. "Nothing that specific. This is more a inner journey than an outer one, to come to a better understanding of yourself."

Glorm broke in. "It be sounding like one of those stupid EST things that be big back at my home for a while, where you be treated like dung and have to ask permission to go to the bathroom."

Cazar looked confused. "EST?"

"Never mind."

Delrin, still looking somewhat the worse for wear, spoke up again. "Cazar, have you ever visited my Bretheren in the sacred Groves west of here?"

Cazar replied "Oh, yes, I'm sorry, you asked that before. I would have answered if you had been conscious. I have, indeed, visited the Temple of the Olive Grove from time to time. An interesting lot, that. Despite their rather eccentric believes, they produce a most amazing substance that is highly prized in Pranan."

"Oh really? And what would that be?" asked Delrin.

Cazar smiled and rummaged around in a small pack, finally producing a bottle with a strange, viscous, dark green fluid in it. He pulled off a small cork stopper and offered it to Delrin. Delrin sniffed. It had a odor, not strong or unpleasant but unusual. He went to take a small sip. "No!" cried out Cazar. Delrin stopped and looked at him. "It isn't for drinking. It's for cooking. It is oil of the olive. Nutritious, delicious, low in saturated fat, and so good for you. Better than butter."

Cookie looked with envy at the olive oil and began to consider options in getting the small bottle, a few of which did not include personal combat....

October 6th

Derlin and Krinn sat surrounded by the six earth priests. They had been fasting for three days, and Delrin was feeling somewhat lightheaded. He had imagined several odd visions, but he had a feeling the real McCoy had not come around yet. Still he concentrated on his rather hairy navel, and chanted silently Ommmmmmmmmmmm Ommmmmmmmmmm Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmm... As he slowly drifted deeper into his inner consciousness something odd stirred at the edge of his meditation. The strange feeling continued to grow and he followed the metaphorical sent like a hound after the fox. It seemed like he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it was very very familiar. Suddenly it came to him! VEAL STEAKS WITH WILD CRANBERRY AND BRANDY SAUCE! Damn that Sadistic Cookie! He had set up his cook fire upwind of the meditating clerics. He knew the veal steaks were Delrin's favorite, and to think Delrin was Cookies friend! if the Dwarf or Sid had been fasting, Gaia only knew what the troll would have done. He forced himself to ignore the scent hoping the wind would soon shift or dinner would be finished. Ommmmmmmmmm Ommmmmmmmmmm Ommmmygoshimhungry!

COOKIE

He finished simmering the sauce, forcing himself to focus on something that normally would not have taken the slightest effort. Last night could wait, it could wait. He turned the skewered veal cutlets one more time, satisfied that they were cooked to perfection. Of course, some might wonder where he had come up with veal out in the middle of nowhere. What they didn't know couldn't hurt them, now, could it? He drained the fluid from the wild mushrooms he had been steeping in a vegetable bouillon and carefully measured them out onto plates, added the veal and smothered it with the sauce. The wind was coming from just the right direction. If those two fools wanted to eat bread and water instead of his fine cooking, let them suffer the consequences.

Soon, everyone was eating and complimenting his efforts. He ignored them, eating slowly, finally allowing himself to return to thoughts about the previous night, as most of the day had been spent. He had grudgingly agreed to sleep with the rock as a pillow after the shock of the story of the great ones had worn off. The first and second nights, nothing had happened, other than waking with a headache. Last night, he had seen them.

It was not the Glassond Hraggle he knew, the one that he had been in just six months ago. That had been at Mugra Jugrul, the sacred crater of mount Jelegrun in Kom, well inland from the encroaching human troops. The crater lake that was the burial place of all but the greatest trolls in southern Kom, those held in enough esteem to become demigods in their own right, the Relaguss, with burial mounds that formed the basis of a local temple. Or, sometimes, those unfortunates that fell in battle to the humans and ended up behind enemy lines with those who knew nothing about proper burial ceremony. Other than these, every troll south of Kurbuud made the final journey to Mugra Jugrul, either by themselves if still mobile or with their bones carried by relatives.

This was different. A crater, like Mugra Jugrul, but different. And the great ones... thousands of them, in silver and gold, armor gleaming like the sun.

It was not the same ceremony, exactly. Similar, but the music... music that even now, faded as dreams will, touched him in a way no song or sound had ever affected him before.

He could not remember more. But he would. If it took a year of sleeping on that rock, he would remember more. He would.

KRINN

She sat silently, eyes closed, ignoring the gnawing in her stomach. The fast really was primarily symbolic... they had as much water as they wanted and had small crusts of bread each night... but after many days of hard marching and Cookie's inspirational cooking, she was use to eating twice as much as she did during her more sedentary days in Kethem. She ignored the stiffness of legs crossed for many hours as well, and the other myriad little discomforts associated with their vigil. They were all worth the cost for what she had gained. Three days had brought a peace she had not realized she was missing. Occasional flashes of the inner turmoil that had afflicted her since Corbel's house still surfaced, but with less and less frequency.

The sun was warm for a change, and she let her mind wander a bit, three days of attempting to suppress thought making it difficult to stop. What had happened to her at Corbel's house? Love? Fat chance. Corbel was nice, but he was still a tool she would use to reach her own ends. Of course, that was abusing the trust he had placed in her.

Alarms jangled. She stilled them and tried to step a bit outside the box of her psyche. If he was a tool, what difference did the trust make? She sensed the conflict. A tool. A lover. A nice guy. A mark. Two interpretations circled each other cautiously, looking for an opening, arms extended to attack or defend as the situation called. Between them, the interface... small windows that might allow a punch or a kick, but never full contact.

So, big deal. She already knew this was related to the schizophrenic personality she had developed under Hotherial's tutelage. Why was it suddenly an issue?

A flash came to her. Delrin, just before they found the gravel road that took them to Corbel's house. She hadn't paid much attention then. Now it was a frozen moment in time, and she could see what he was thinking, spelled out in exacting detail by his small smirk as a soaking wet El Sid rose from his sleeping bag. He was thinking that she had grown as nasty as El Sid in the Pranan outback. Another flash; striking a beggar with the hilt of her dagger after El Sid's chastisement in Cidan. Other bits and pieces, parts of a jigsaw puzzle that fell in place to show her a strong Krinn, adjusted to the ways of the world, hard and mean and fully capable of dealing with the death and destruction that had followed them... or perhaps that they had brought with them... since leaving Kethem.

A Krinn she despised.

The two combatants circled with more agitation. Strong, vicious, self sufficient, untrustworthy... black and white struggled, neither willing to merge into gray.

It came to her. At Corbel's house, she had subconsciously decided to put the old Krinn, the sweet Krinn, the fawning, frightened, weak Krinn in charge because it was tactically advantageous in subduing Corbel. But the old Krinn, gradually supplanted by her alter ego in the rough and tumble outback, didn't want to get out of the saddle once she had returned. She really was schitzo, with two personalities that not only wanted control, but didn't even like each other, and leaving nothing much she... they... could do about it.

Krinn opened her eyes, stretched, stood, and walked stiffly over to the campfire a few hundred yards back from Korbit's hole as if it were nothing, ignoring the strong impulse to throw herself into the hole. The priests, sitting and gazing into the bottomless pit, ignored her. She felt more than noticed a glance from Delrin but he went back to his meditation without comment. As she approached the camp, Cookie looked up, dished out a plate of veal, and handed it to her quietly. She ate without pausing for half an hour, trying to fit three days worth of meals into that one dinner. El Sid, uncommonly polite, waited until she slowed down.

"Well?"

"Well what?" she asked.

"Did you have a vision?"

"No. Yes. Maybe. I'm not sure."

El Sid waited a moment, until it was obvious that Krinn was not going to continue. "What do you think you saw?"

"Trouble. Big trouble. Thanks for the meal, Cookie... it was wonderful. Don't come near me tonight, El Sid, or I'll hurt you. Bad." She went over to her sleeping bag, crawled in, and went to sleep without another comment.

October 7th

"Puny hooman want more omlette?" Cookie asked Cazar.

Cazar waved him away. "No, no thank you, my good ma... troll. I am simply stuffed."

The fast had broken last night, with the priests, one by one, abandoning their seats by Korbit's hole, apparently satisfied with the results of sitting on their butts for three days.

"So, what exactly did you see?" asked Dom, curious, asking the group as a whole. One by one, the priests answered.

"I realized the ingredient I was leaving out of my iron skin potion" said Cazar.

"I find I must set out on a holy quest to answer my doubts about dedicating my life to the priesthood of Farith" said the next.

"I can now see that the stress between my wife and I is due to my inattentiveness to her need to feel loved" answered the third.

"I came to understand what iambic pentameter is and how to apply it to my epic poem, the Ill Dad" exclaimed the fourth excitedly.

"The relationship between the sides of a right triangle is proportional to the sine of the angle" muttered the fifth priest.

"Dog spelled backward is God" said the last.

Dom looked at Delrin, who shrugged and smiled in chagrin. "I was thinking about how to determine the exact circumference of Korbit's hole, but all I could think about was the pie Cookie was baking."

"So," broke in El Sid, "these visions are interesting, highly varied, and of absolutely no significance what so ever." He shook his head in disgust. "What a waste of three days. We'll break camp this morning."

Cazar looked at him in surprise. "Why, El Sid, for our group, enlightenment is its own reward."

"For goofballs, maybe" muttered Krinn under her breath.

A half hour later, the two groups parted, the Earth clerics heading inland to Poorfit's road. They headed for the coast to resume their search.