Hello, Everyone!
I hope you’re well! I’ve started a summer job and there’s almost no time to draw my little illustrations. That’s why you’ve seen so many old and placeholder pictures lately. Sorry about that! I’ll draw the illustrations when I can and will replace the faulty ones! Just give me time!
Speaking of time, our heroes are still in the tunnels. In our last chater, Bruno sent a magical message to his mother, telling her about the duergar’s movements, the possible location of the Artefact and the fact that her children were alive and well. Her reply contained the mention of Paulina’s punishment, who, as we know, had sneaked away to join our party. A discussion about injustice and motherly love insured, it made Mary think of her own family and how she missed them, and she gave it a good cry.
She’s about to break, y’all.
"And this is how you call one of our people under the ground," Roko was just finishing his explanation. "Of course, there must be someone around to hear the call, otherwise you've pretty much wasted your time."
Everybody had gathered their heads in a little circle and was knocking with small pebbles on the ground, trying to memorize the summoning rhythm.
After her cry, Mary had wiped her tears and thought she looked fine, but one glance at Aurum told her that he knew something was wrong. The bard was awfully observant!
"Maary?" he said.
"M?"
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing," she lied. "What do you mean?"
"You've been crying."
She looked at the others to see if they'd heard him. They seemed distracted, or at least politely pretended to be.
She took Aurum and tried to go as far away from the others as possible (which in this small space was about six feet).
"Please don't tell them I've cried again!" Mary whispered.
It was one thing to cry when everybody was shaken up by a recent incident (like the fight with the drow) but now, when everything was calm and safe… She couldn't take another "are you all right" from Bruno!
"You haven’t slept," Aurum said. It was a statement, not a question.
So she wasn't so good at pretending after all.
“Is it on purpose?” the bard asked. “Are you afraid that your Patron is going to give you another mission?”
Mary sighed. There was no point in lying anymore. She told him all about the nightmares. Her words spilled like a river from a dam.
“And it’s not like I’m afraid of a mission,” she kept going. “I mean, I am afraid but… I’m not, I’m not sure that my Patron, you know… cares. I mean, we could have all died in Nurvureem’s lair, or, or, or worse... and he probably wouldn’t have even noticed. Who knows how many warlocks he has to plant his trees all around the world, why would I think I was special?”
She looked at her hands. Her nails were covered with dirt and grime. She started to pick them.
“I think that your Patron has some kind of a Grand plan,” Aurum said and made her raise her eyes. “And I think he has more faith in you than you have in yourself. He takes care of you, you just don’t notice. He gave you the dark vision when you most needed it, right? We would have probably all died with the dark elves if it wasn’t for that.”
Mary stayed silent, thinking about his words. He… had a point. Maybe she wasn’t being fair. Maybe she needed to at least try and talk...
“Can I say something else?” Aurum continued. “If you want to hide the fact that you’ve been crying, you’d better put on a little makeup. You won't deceive anyone with these swollen eyes!”
He spent the next several minutes painting her face with his disguise kit and showed her the final result. It was still dreadful but the bard assured her that it was better than before. Mary shuddered with the thought of what “before” would have been.
Then they crawled again.
It was just as painful and tiring as before, more so for Mary because she was doubly exhausted. Her thoughts scrambled in her head and repeated themselves in silly strings. Sometimes she lost periods of time in a daze. She stopped often, trying to catch her breath. Nobody complained or commented, even Bruno had ceased asking her how she felt. She could only see the silent worry in their eyes.
They stopped once, after a few hours, to fill their waterskins from an underground river, and then once more at the end of the very long… day? (What was a ‘day’ anyway? That concept was beginning to lose its meaning down there…) As soon as Roko made the tunnel expand into a campsite, everyone collapsed where they stood and soon most of them fell asleep.
Aurum took first watch and Mary watched him while she was lying on her side. The bard was smoking sneakily but the magic of the gnome tunnels made the air clear itself almost immediately.
She smiled. She felt peaceful now that she’d told him everything. She was finally calm enough to try and sleep.
She closed her eyes. Drifted away.
And disappeared.
I love Aurum! He’s so much more than just a silly bard who dies a lot! <3 I don’t know why Mary decided to trust him with her feelings but it sure made a difference. It’s so good to have friends you can talk to when things get out of hand!
Next time in Mary’s adventures: will she get another vision from her Patron? Will it be as scary as the last one? What about rest? Will she be able to sleep without the nightmares?
And what does it mean, “disappeared”? Disappeared, where?
Find out soon!
Take care and be well!
(Also, here's a link to the Chapter Guide and the Glossary for the series. You're welcome!)