Tavros: Guilty Awakening

Tavros gave Leira a final hug, then crossed the stone hall and stepped into the tiny cell where Cardinal Clovis said he could stay. It felt strange to be tired after forcing his way out of his own sarcophagus -- apparently he'd had two years to rest? -- but their return had been a lot. Across the hall in his own small room, Marshall Mercy was already snoring. Tavros shook his head and closed his door.

My mother is dead. That had been among the first things that Cardinal Clovis had told him, when the young cleric had come down into the crypts to investigate the sound of sobbing. The sobbing, of course, had been the result of Leira waking up in a coffin, in an unfamiliar place, following their flight from the Abyss. The girl was capable of leveling a small city, but waking up in a dusty dress and trapped in an unfamiliar space was enough to overwhelm her. And Marshall, while less voluble about it, had once again returned to life to find that his beloved snakes were dead.

Plenty of reason for the three of us to be upset. His mother was dead and he might well be the rightful king of Sol Povos, for all that a barbarian bear-woman sat on the throne at present. Cardinal Clovis had shared a bit of sacramental wine with them after sharing his news, but it hadn't been nearly enough. Gates had opened and demons had overrun Sol Povos; Duke Lamont, whose reputation might be described as inhumane if one were feeling charitable, apparently now ruled the north, and the Elvish king was missing. A few of the border cities were still reasonably safe, including his home of Caristhium. 

Caristhium, where his mother had been dragged from her estate by elvish rebels and summarily hanged, her body coated in tar and left hanging from the walls as a warning. Caristhium, where his closest friends were hopefully safe in the Temple of Amun. Caristhium, where they might be able to recover and regroup, if they could reach the place. 

Cardinal Clovis Cloverfield had said that there was a man, the Silver Fox, who could get them there. Cardinal Clovis Cloverfield had also hinted that he might like to come with them, despite being the highest-ranking priest remaining in the Temple of Helios. Tavros glanced at the sun-shaped symbol of Helios on the wall above the bed, and thought: Got your ass handed to you, didn't you, old man? 

The emblem gleamed briefly; it might have been a trick of the light, or it might have been something else. Well, he didn't mean to insult any god whose temple was sheltering him. Hold tight, he thought. We'll do what we can for your worshipers. He sat down on the edge of the narrow bed, drew a deep breath and then let it out. 

Where the hell are the others? Martini, Ruin, and Geddy had all gone through the portal with him. He'd expected them to all come out together. But then, he hadn't really expected to wake up in his own resurrected corpse; he hadn't truly considered that he might be dead in this world. Still, the elves had entered Fanaxia through a portal, rather than the near-death spell that the Solari of Sol Povos had cobbled together. Maybe their return had been correspondingly gentler? He hoped so, but his thoughts were still dark with despair. 

How much of this is my fault? They'd known that time was passing differently in Fanaxia, known that every day they spent there was many days here at home. And yet they'd remained, trying to set things right before they departed. And maybe -- fond hope -- maybe they had. 

But we were gone two years! If I'd been here, perhaps I could have prevented my mother's death. Perhaps I could have prevented the city from being overrun, the king from being captured or killed, the demons from overrunning everything. 

He didn't know. He might never know. And maybe it didn't matter. Things were as they were, and maybe all that mattered was how they dealt with them now. The equipment they'd had in Fanaxia seemed to have come back through with them, which suggested that the line between resurrection here and passing through the portal in the Abyss hadn't been a clean division. They could make an attempt to set things to right, especially if this Silver Fox could get them to a place where they could rest, and plan, and try to locate the others. It would be harder without Azrael and Alexej, but he thought it could still be done. 

He hadn't lost faith. 

Tomorrow Cardinal Clovis would tell them how to meet with the Silver Fox and get clear of the Capital. They would head for Caristhium, and with luck he would find Anica and Tarric and Aesa there. With a bit more luck, he could give his mother a proper burial -- or arrange a resurrection. And after that... We find out what's really going on, and we set it right.