Kanela's Diary, Volume Two.

When the new goddess turned up, my teeth ached much less than they usually do in those circumstances - maybe she's weaker than we thought and pretending to be all-powerful. A lot of the lads decided to convert immediately to worshipping the new naked tart.

Just before when dawn ought to have happened, Zatvoriti rode up with ten companions. He was very upset about the fact that it was daylight when it shouldn't have been. The Captain told him everything! I couldn't believe it. The Kekusutan shaman had told him that the source of the daylight was here. T'Heros apologised and explained that we would be leaving later that day, but he was interested in hiring on some cavalry from the tribe. Zatvoriti was very unhappy with the prospect. He explained that if he lost warriors, then his tribe would be too weak to defend its lands, and the neighbouring tribe, north of the river - the Vrijedra - would overwhelm them.

Zatvoriti then suggested that we could weaken the closest of his enemies - the Zaskociti - by hiring them as auxiliaries. With gold, but no men, they would be easy pickings for the Kekusutan come winter. The Captain was happy with this idea, but wanted Zatvoriti to pay the cost of hiring these men.

I looked back towards the camp as they bickered and had an unpleasant shock. Bututi, Dick to his mates, was taking down the temple tent. As it was packed away, I noticed that the air which it had enclosed glowed vaguely like a sunlit mist. There was a hint of divine power within the light. Surprising as it may seem, this upset Zatvoriti again. The man needed to chill out.

After the locals had gone away the Captain came back and asked me about how to make bricks. He seemed keen on constructing a permanent temple where the light shone forth. I don't know - give a man a new religion, and he seems to go all to pieces. He should have realised that the Kekusutan would never sit still for that.

As the pontoon bridge was finally constructed and the wagons rolled across to the north bank, some of the new converts to Aurora were asking Lunak about her. He seemed to be having a crisis of conscience, or at least a lack of inspiration.

Mamuk asked, "Shall we worship her?"

Lunak's response was typically hazy: "Do as you see fit. I shall worship her."

"Okay, we'll worship her, like you said."

Typical of Mamuk. He would eternally remain a follower. He had perfected various tactics so that someone else gave the orders. Whatever went wrong was never his fault, of that you could be certain. His superiors, that is everyone, called him "Dodger".

We set up across the river - only a temporary barricade on a vaguely raised piece of ground. Everybody was completely shagged after getting up so early. We decided to look for a better stockade site the next day. That night was the night of the new moon. One of the outlander barbarian gods was at its strongest on this night. Then again, the other one was at its weakest, so it evened out usually.

As the sun set the watchmen noted some Kavala riders on the edge of the woods to the north-west. Two hours after dusk the number had risen to fifty, and was increasing. They didn't look friendly. Granted, fifty Kavala riders hiding in a wood rarely look friendly, but these boys were planning mischief, of that there was no doubt. One of the rangers reported back that just out of sight were another 150 mixed infantry and archers. This gave them an advantage of about 3 to 1 and our stockade wasn't the best I'd ever made.

At about midnight, they attacked, their cavalry circling the hill while their archers kept our heads down. At first our archery and the stockade gave us the edge. We lost no one, and twelve of their cavalry went down. They then charged the stockade entrance. They nearly got there, but at the last moment their birds were spooked by Sicknote. The Captain led a counter-charge through their confused ranks. It was spectacular, and looked to have won the day, but unfortunately they had another trick up their sleeve. Each dead barbarian tribesman stood up and continued towards the camp - even severed hands pulled themselves forward. We set the bodies on fire, but even this didn't stop them, and the fire started to burn the stockade as the bits and pieces of dismembered tribesmen reached the wall.

Out of missile range stood three figures. They were obviously the tribe's King and Queen and shaman. The shaman was suffused with black light - he glowed with unearthly power and seemed to have given up his soul to his god's control. We were in deep shit. I gave Lunak a kick and told him to get up on the ballista tower. He looked confused, so I gave him another kick and suggested he pray to his goddess. With some suggestions from me, he infused the ballista bolt with divinely blessed sunlight. His supreme ability with any kind of bow then took care of the shaman. As he fell to the ground, the life went out of his tribe. Those few that survived threw down their weapons and begged for mercy. This really was quite incredible. In two days, we'd faced two forces of superior power, destroyed them both, and lost not a single brother.

The surviving tribesmen were only too willing to explain what had happened to them. They were now very disappointed with their god, and willing to worship Aurora henceforth. Their tribe had been the Ledenjak - it was now no more, because we had destroyed it. They didn't seem very keen on staying in these lands with so few of them able to fight, and asked if they could follow us. They seemed quite genuine and told us that they had been warned by the Kekusutan that we were invading their lands and were planning to destroy all those who would not follow our god. We'd been set up by our old hosts across the river and I suggested to Vreeo that some kind of curse on that tribe was in order. I suggested that a tribe of nomads whose animals could not breed wouldn't last very long. She seemed enthusiastic about the prospect. From a couple of the bodies I picked up 44 silver Mencetak and a keg which contained a jewelled box in which were yet another 7 Emas. So in the last two days, we'd beaten two superior forces, and I'd made a fortune. Interesting times may be risky, but they'd certainly paid well so far.

The following morning, after most people had had far too little sleep, all Aurora's new worshippers, plus a large contingent of guards returned to the sunlit temple stones. Dawn broke - on time for a change - and Lunak pontificated about Aurora. He reminded me of a young lad asked about a subject that he hadn't done his homework on. He flanneled, and was brought up short by some specific questions from Stutter. The new converts wanted an organised religion with dos and don'ts, holy days, ways to pray - "Do as you think you should" left far too much open to debate. They needed direction, and got the rock-hard doctrine of a dandelion puff.

Fifteen of our recruits were now eligible to join, and took the oath. My brothers now numbered 84. It had been twelve years since the last time we had so many fully-oathed members of the brigade, and last time the number was dropping like a stone as we headed to near-oblivion.

T'Heros seemed to have some holy fire behind his eyes as the new brothers took the oath. His plans seemed to require a lot more than seventy of us. I hope he never gets over the old total of 250 - more than that and we won't know our own.

As they prayed at dawn, we were watched by Kekusutan tribesmen, but they did not come calling. Just as well, probably.

Lunak, the Captain and some others went into the temple tent back at our stockade. I could tell they were doing something religious, and I forced a full confession out of Stutter later on.

They called to their new goddess, and asked some of the questions that Lunak should have done before his erratic sermon:

"Why have you come?"

"TO ANSWER YOUR PRAYERS."

"Why now?"

"I WAS CALLED."

"How may we serve you?" There was no answer.

"Where did you come from?" (asked by the Captain) The answer?

"FROM YOU!"

The priest then asked some petty details about how to worship her, but got no response.

"How do you connect to the old gods?"

"MANY OTHERS FEAR ME, FOR I BRING CHANGE."

"What change?"

"I WILL BE BEHIND THOSE WHO CHANGE THE WORLD. I WILL SERVE THOSE WHO ESTABLISH THE CRIMSON TIDE. THOSE WHO FOLLOW MY STANDARDS WILL SPREAD THE TIDE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. NONE SHALL BE MISSED. THE VERY NATURE OF THE GODS AND MEN WILL BE CHANGED BY THE COMING OF THE DAWN. I AM THE AGENT OF CHANGE, BUT NOT ITS CAUSE. I DO NOT CONTROL THE CHANGE."

"What form does your standard take?"

"THAT IS FOR YOU TO DECIDE."

"Who will oppose the Crimson Tide?"

"MANY WILL OPPOSE IT. THE FOLLOWERS OF SOME OF THE GODS WILL FIGHT AGAINST IT, WHETHER THEIR GODS WILL IT OR NOT."

"Will all the gods oppose the Crimson Tide?"

"ALL WOULD RATHER IT HAD NOT OCCURRED, BUT NOT ALL WILL RESIST CHANGE IN THE SAME WAY. SOME MAY EMBRACE CHANGE, THOUGH THEIR FOLLOWERS MIGHT NOT."

"Is the place where you were first called to earth important?"

"THAT HAS YET TO BE DECIDED."

"Which will be our greatest enemies?"

"THAT DEPENDS UPON YOU."

"How may we find shelter from the storm?"

"BY BECOMING THE STORM."

"What is the weakness of the Berdevo?"

"THOSE WHO THEY SERVE REGARD THEM AS LESS THAN CATTLE. THAT IS THEIR WEAKNESS."

"What is the weakness of the Rakhokalia?"

"THEIR WEAKNESS IS THEIR STRENGTH. THEIR STRENGTH IS THAT THEY DO NOT PASS THROUGH THE WHEEL."

"Can they be destroyed?"

"YES."

"Can they be destroyed by sorcery or arms?"

"THEY CAN BE DESTROYED AS ANY CAN BE DESTROYED."

"What is their nature - are they like the gods?"

"THEY ARE NEITHER LIKE THE PITHEKOS NOR THE GODS - THEY ARE LIKE THE RAKHOKALIA."

I paid 35 Emas to the sorcerors so that they would curse the tribe of the Kekusutan. Their animals were not to bear young ever again, wherever they might go. Sicknote added a rider that the curse could be broken if they converted to Aurora. Just what we need - a fanatic preacher to a new god with no morals, and a goddess with no control.

Sicknote then offered to remove Stutter's stutter. Stutter displayed more wisdom than I expected by politely refusing this 'generous' offer. Scouts returned later that day and told us that the tribes were entirely happy to let us go wherever we wished, and were not going to oppose our visit to their lands. Sometimes building a reputation takes very little time indeed. Apparently, some of the tribesmen were talking of becoming recruits. It seems that a few of them were ever so impressed with our shiny new goddess.

That evening Sicknote decided that he would take the oath and join the company. This was the first time in our history that a brother had taken the oath twice, but the inside of his mind was inhabited by more than one sorceror, and all previous bets were off. He had two black balls against him when the vote to accept him was taken. I hope he doesn't find out who put them there, because I get the feeling he's a vindictive bastard. The Captain had set the Priest and sorcerors the task of making a standard to be infused with the power of Aurora. Sicknote, or to use his current name, Souvlikos, brought with him to the company a huge, divinely empowered ruby. He said that this was the right eye of his god, who is apparently called Ssfayee. This god of his was ever so keen to help with our ongoing experiments and so had sacrificed half his own sight for the chance to get in on the legend.

Souvlikos then suggested that he get the title and rank of Standardbearer. This was to be a rank equal to the Chaplain, Engineer and Swordmaster. The job of the Standardbearer is to carry the standard. For this he gets officers' shares of loot, and his job is to sit on his fundament all day, holding a stick! The lads were so impressed by his shiny new stick, that they voted for a new officer's position, which he immediately took up.

The Captain decided that as we were growing in number, and everything was changing at that moment, that now would be a good time to decide upon a Lieutenant. He offered the job first to Vika, but she said no. I thought this was a shame, seeing as she was doing the Lieutenant's job anyway. The Captain then decided to pick four likely candidates, put each in charge of four recruits, and send them off to kill giant wasps. Just to the west of where we were camping was some wild land like the Valley of the Beasts in Galadiahos. Each group of five was to be joined by a ranger. We had four rangers, they all had a link to Vreeo, and were experienced enough to give an accurate report.

The four "leaders" were Lumpius, "The General" Apotek, Vilius (also known as "Maiden") and Thalos, a competant infantry commander, usually called "Twitch". The gods only know why he chose Lumpius. Three of them came back within a day, but Thalos took an extra night to return. Lumpius returned with no injuries to his team, and nine stingers recovered. The only problem with this, was that he had done all the fighting on his own. Apotek returned with six stingers and a happy and uninjured crew. Vilius had only three stingers to show. Thalos returned with nine stingers but he himself had been injured and one of his trainees was dead.

Each of the rangers made a report on his "leader", but none of them seemed appropriate to lead us in battle. Thalos was too indecisive and had not inspired morale amongst his subordinates, Vilius had been far too cautious, and although no one had been hurt, not enough had been done while he was in charge - not overly surprising, "Maiden" was always too timid to start anything, though once it began he was far from a coward. Lumpius had done it all by himself, no one else had had a look in throughout the combat, and besides that he did not want the job. He knew that he was not up to the task and it gave him credit that he knew his own weaknesses. Apotek seemed to be the best offer for of them, but was viewed as too young for the job of Lieutenant at this time. As I have said before, I have no doubt that in the future he will rise the top of this Company - if he lives.

Rapeezo asked the Captain if the Rangers could be reconsidered for the job. They were amongst our most professional soldiers, each could think for themselves, and they all had the respect of the men in dangerous situations.

Our four Rangers at this time were as follows:

Setrika, known as "Iron", was a hard and very respected soldier. She was not sociable in the least, but had good ability to plan engagements if the need arose.

Olok Olok, known universally as "The Lecher", was extremely competent but desperately lazy unless pushed by circumstances or a high ranking person.

Estera, who oddly enough had no nickname, had the longest military experience of any of the candidates. She was very popular, but otherwise did not stand out.

Keeros, called "Sir" by everybody, had solid infantry roots, which was just what the Captain desired, but he was excessively violent, and blood crazed - in fact he was a murderous nutter. He did have a fine ability for tactical command , but no obvious grasp of strategy.

Setrika accepted the position as Lieutenant, and the whole company breathed a sigh of relief at avoiding some of the other potential candidates. The Rangers were told to find a replacement if it all possible. This didn't alter their standing orders, which were to train up the any possible new recruits to reinforce the Ranger cadre. You can never have enough for Rangers.

The Captain then told all the officers that they should search out possible replacements and begin their training. This would protect us from disaster, and also allow for the greater expansion of the group which he foresaw. He took me aside personally, and informed me that I in particular needed to find another Engineer, as my other duties would eventually make it impossible to fulfil all the posts that I was qualified for - Vreeo and he were keen on a new apprentice for the ageing crone. Surprisingly, my name came up, and so I started learning the tricks necessary to gain oogly-foogly powers! Wow, I was now chronicler, engineer and a potential apprentice sorceror. The days would never seem long enough now.

The new Standardbearer then started a great, eloquent speech. He bullshitted on and on cowing the crowd would with the force of his personality. Man, but that guy could talk! Everybody sat speechless and silent as he went on about the grand duty awaiting us. They all lapped it up, but when he said that we should change the oath all hell broke loose. Nobody was willing to except even a slight alteration to the words that we had all spoken upon joining this company. I felt that in my position as Chronicler I had to make a stand on this issue. I got very heated about the possibility of a change, but it became clear that I was not alone in my disquiet. Neither the majority of the Brigade, nor the Captain, was interested in any wholesale or even minor change. I freely admit that I became quite aggressive when arguing with the Standardbearer, but I did not trust his motivations at all. The Captain put that issue to bed.

On the 23rd Day of the Third Moon, the Lieutenant was left in charge of the Brigade, whilst a small group travelled ahead towards the ruins which the Captain had previously heard about. They were believed to be connected with the Berdevo in some fashion. After three days we crossed the river and discovered a track leading towards our target. Once this track had been spotted, it was relatively easy to follow, but before it had been pointed out to me, I could not see it at all. I wondered whether some sort of magic was involved, or whether it was simply my lack of knowledge about wilderness travel. Vreeo was unwilling to tell me either way. Naturally enough, Vika was loud with her opinions.

The Captain informed us that the trail was infrequently used, but large groups of creatures had passed along it within the last few weeks. He also noted that a small group had moved up and down the track within the last week, comprising of humanoids and riding Kavala. One kemes-like track was also seen, travelling barefoot with the others. I wondered whether they were patrols of guards from the ruins, as we had heard that some of them were still inhabited.

The next day, Vika decided that she had to go hunting alone to honour her Goddess. Let those that follow after me calculate who her Goddess was from the dates I have left behind; personally I don't give a shit. As the rest of us had to spend the day arsing about at the camp we all grabbed a little shut-eye and gossiped. The Captain sought out Vreeo and asked her what ways there were to deal with the Rakhokalia -"Summon a God" was the unhelpful reply.

As the sun went down, Sicknote noticed that the sergeant had not yet returned to the camp. He even went to the Captain and told him! This was surprising based on their previous bad blood, and reflects well upon him -maybe there's hope after all, but probably not.

The Captain led us into the woods in search of the Sergeant. In a short while we found a trail and discovered where the she had attacked a Seleekos. During the encounter she had been hurt. The Captain then discovered a circle of grass where she had lit a bonfire, the tracks then led back to where we had set up the camp. The Priest then spoke to a thorn bush near the bonfire, and got into a convoluted argument from which he ascertained that a human had travelled this way, after ripping a branch from the bush. The Priest then offered to reattach the branch, but the bush was unhappy with the idea, saying that the branch had changed.

The Priest then picked up the branch, displaying a disturbing naivety, and was swiftly overwhelmed by its magical power. This power then drove him along the path which the Sergeant had travelled. Vreeo used the twig's power to create a link between the source of this magic and the twig its self. We could all now see a glowing mist leading up the track. The Priest, never knowing when to leave well alone, started talking to the trees. Humanoids had passed this way recently. The Captain showed us signs of somebody having been dragged this way, the signs of which had been sorcerously hidden. So at this point we knew that the Sergeant had been taken this way without her consent, by magicians of some kind.

We reached the end of the road, and found ourselves in an open area dominated by a huge, towering black tree. From its branches hung the decapitated body of a Seleekos, and the bound and unconscious body of our Sergeant - that should teach her to take her religious obligations so seriously. Let those that come after me and read these words take them to heart: religion can very easily get you killed.

Lunak was obviously very worried about the state of affairs we found, because he suggested that we start looking for firewood to burn the tree down! I was all in favour of this, but it did prove that even a Pagoth can lose his head in a crisis. Or maybe that's why he left his tribe, because the suggestion of burning Auntie probably wouldn't have gone down too well at home.

Vreeo then piped up that everything we saw there was an illusion: there was no tree, and no Sergeant to be seen, just a rocky outcrop in the middle of the clearing. Some powerful magic was obviously involved, as the two sorcerors present had never seen any illusion of this type before. Vreeo then empowered our sight so that we could see what was truly there. We left a small group outside the clearing under Apotek, and the Captain led a bunch of officers and expendables (Hello, Lumpius!) into the cave. The cave opened into a passageway beneath the earth. As we travelled downwards, we found illusions and traps, but a combination of brute force, ignorance and over-extended sorcery forced us through.

The Standardbearer detected two minds linked at their deepest levels which commanded the illusions. With help from Vreeo, he commanded them, and dominated their wills. They brought the Sergeant with them, in chains, and trapped within her own mind, but learning from previous experiences, we chopped them into small pieces at the earliest opportunity.

Once they were dead, the Sergeant regained her senses and we proceeded to loot the cave. My share consisted of an extremely unusual Seleekos skin which seemed to have a metallic component. I added this to my usual armour, as it may be that it had some magical power. Even if it didn't, it was still very pretty. I also found a collar decorated with banded agate stones from the city states of Loyismos. The final treasure was a small box hinged with brass, containing 79 platinum coins of unusual design. I reckoned that each was worth about one Emas. My personal wealth continued to leap upwards. I'd never been as rich as this before. I had a suspicion that I was the richest man in the company at this time. It just went to show - all my friends prayed devoutly to their gods for wealth and I got the loot. Gods must be even bigger bastards than I thought.

The rest of that day, and all of the next was spent tricking the cavern to collapse under my control. We brought the cavern down on the First Day of the Fourth Moon and within that cavern we left a, hopefully destroyed, magical statue made of Alexandrite, or some such material. Whatever it was made out of, its colour changed when you picked it up, and I didn't like it.

We trooped back to the camp which Vika had walked away from some days previously and the Captain and Vreeo proceeded to contact Setrika for a report on the rest of the brothers. During our absence, the camp had been attacked by assassins. None of ours had been killed, but the attackers seemed to be Berdevo. The Captain ordered Setrika to bring the rest of them up to join us, and we planned to set up a camp nearer the ruins. Soon after contact had been broken, I noticed a large wasp, slightly larger than my hand, flying behind us and I got the feeling it was spying on us. I mentioned this to Lunak and he proceeded to shoot it out of the air in a quite spectacular fashion. Once it had been downed, I told what I had seen to the others and Vreeo said that the wasp was linked to another sorceror - I went for years without meeting any, and now four or five had come along at once. Hopefully this would be the last of them.

As we stood around the wasp, wittering as was our wont, a nearby rock turned and spoke to us! There's something most people don't see every day, although by now some of us were a trifle unimpressed by magic nobody understood. Vreeo and Souvlikos were taken aback though - sometimes ignorance is bliss.

"What do the Children of the Dawn seek in these hills?"

"Enlightenment," was the suitably mystical response of our Captain.

The Captain demanded the name of the sorceror, and he responded that he was "Kengerian of the Dozen Lives". The Standardbearer's current occupant claimed to have heard of Kengerian before during his previous life in the south. Back then, he had had fewer lives.

The Captain tried a new approach with this sorceror, probably mainly because we couldn't get our hands on him, and asked whether we could have a friendly meeting. Kengerian seemed to be very worried about our approach. It seemed that this was disturbing his neighbours in the mountains. His career at present seemed to entail avoiding his neighbours like the plague. After some discussion with the rock, these beings came into more focus. One pair were loud and smashed things up a lot, and reeked of sweat and blood. His more distant problem smelt strongly of cinnamon!

Souvlikos introduced himself, and the two of them wittered on about how impressive they were. As they talked, it became obvious that he was essentially harmless, and simply wanted to be left alone. His loud, local neighbours turned out to be two gods. They were very powerful, but thick as Kedros shit. Whilst they have more power individually than a person, they can be out-manoeuvered, and out-thought, if you work hard at it. These two could probably have been baffled by the brains of Lumpius.

Kengerian described the first set of ruins we were approaching, and it seemed that they were under the influence of the Rakhokalia, although none had been there in quite a long time. However, their servants did inhabit the ruins, and these were grouped as follows: Yelani, whom we had met previously; Mind slaves, who had no will of their own; breeding experiments, including something called an Isrovati which tidied up the ruins. It seemed to be the creature that the mad old woman had described to the woman in the past. Kengerian was very upset with our original plan of sneaking up there and killing them all. I still favoured it for its bleak simplicity, but Sicknote and his new friend started blethering on about sorcerous investigations, and the fate of the immortal soul.

The Captain asked Kengerian how he knew who we were. His rock seemed surprised by the question. Apparently, the very gods themselves were waiting with bated breath to see what the Children of the Dawn would do. The Captain started to show signs of panic about the huge pressure falling upon his shoulders.

The Captain, the Sergeant, Vreeo, Souvlikos and I snuck up to the first ruins. Vreeo hid us from notice and we discovered broken down bits of rock, a misty, close atmosphere, and very little of interest. We left markers so that the Company would stay here and set up a stockade for a while. The five of us continued on to the second ruins further up the mountain. Vreeo and I were charged with copying any writings that were left there. The Captain and Vika were to scout ahead to search for these clues, and Souvlikos insisted on coming along so that he could "rescue" a Mind slave and find out about the destination of its soul. The Captain was hugely uninterested in this investigation, but allowed the Standardbearer to pursue it as long as he conferred with his superiors first.

We reached the second ruins after several days travel and under cover of Vreeo's illusion we discovered a triangular arrangement of ruined towers. The stones of these towers were black, blue and white, dressed superbly with no mortar between them. Beyond these ruins lay a stone bridge to a larger edifice. This was raised slightly above the surrounding ground by a low cliff and contained larger ruined corner towers with walls between making a triangle. Within the walls, smaller triangular buildings dotted the ground. All were made with the same attention to detail as the ones outside. In the centre of this was a newly re-built tower. As I crossed the bridge, I noted that it could be collapsed from the guard post at the entrance.

Within the ruins there were a number of pithekos who marched around carrying trays of meat. They had a blank expression which chilled me to the bone. As one passed, I noticed that while his clothes were very worn and tattered, they were spotlessly clean, despite the fact that he carried a tray of roasted meat dripping grease onto the floor. I then saw with a shock that the meat was that of a kemes. Soon after, I saw a creature I will never forget. If it had stood upright it would have measured twelve foot tall. It was hugely fat and crawled on its hands and knees, licking the ground. It seemed to be some grotesque variation on a pithekos. As it crawled past the entrance it seemed to stop and sniff the ground and then followed the trail left by Vika.

I went towards the main central tower and found a Yelani guarding the entrance. The tower was fresh - it had been re-built within the last season - and there were no windows. By this stage, Vika was having severe trouble avoiding the creature, and we decided to leave.

Once outside, we pooled what we had discovered. One of the ruined towers was full of meat, hanging from beams - the bodies included kemes, pithekos, metakeenos, kedros and kejang. This meat was cooked in the tower, and taken by the Mind slaves to feed dozens of Yelani throughout the ruins. The big slobbering monster was, of course, the Isrovati.

Vreeo then prepared to investigate further. She said that now that she had a rough layout for the ruins, she could travel without her body and see what was inside the new tower. This was apparently extremely dangerous, as there was a risk of never coming back to your body, or being trapped while flying. To defend against this, she wrote her true name on a scrap of paper in a script she hoped that no one else could decipher and gave it to Vika to hold. Vika was the ideal person to protect this, as she couldn't read.

She travelled into the ruins, and got to the entrance to the tower. There were spells upon the doorway, so she bypassed them by flitting through the wall further down. Some Yelani guards inhabited the ground level, and above, on the first level of the tower, was a huge bedroom. This was extremely sumptuous - probably full of good loot - but what attracted her attention most was a scroll on the desk, written in a script she had never seen before. She sensibly by-passed this, and headed into the cavern under the tower.

The cavern was huge, and it came as no surprise that it was a tetrahedron - a pyramid of triangles. The walls of the cavern were covered with glowing red script. They seemed to have magical power, and she was unable to decipher them. A large number of Yelani protected two rulers, who sat upon their thrones. On the right sat a four-headed king of the Yelani, and on the left sat a queen of huge power. She had five heads.

She memorised the words spoken between these creatures, and between the two of us we deciphered some of their talk. The king was called Pokolj, and the queen, who seemed dominant, was Nasiroko. They mentioned their food supply was running low, and they needed to send more hunting groups into the land of the tribesmen for food. The thing which dominated their attention was a paranoia that they had done too little, too late for the "Return of the Master". They were extremely worried about his return and most worrying of all, their talk seemed to suggest that he would be back soon.

Vreeo returned to her body, none the worse for wear, and took her true name from Vika. She ate the paper.

We returned to our camp and took the troops down the mountain and away from Yelani and Kekusutan lands. It was now the First Moon of Summer. As we crossed the river on the plains Kengerian contacted us again. He was willing to meet up with us so that he could help us to decipher the writings Vreeo had found within the cavern. Note this well, sorcerors can often be trapped with information, where money and power will not suffice.

Souvlikos forced a Kekusutan tribesman into revealing his true name, by dominating his mind. Kengerian then sent his spirit to possess the poor sod's body - that way, he could speak to us and still remain safer than otherwise. When Kengerian reached us, he was insistent on asking the Captain what our long term plans were. He explained that we stood at the start of a new cycle of existence which had started with the coming of Aurora. We were the focus of this change, and anything that we decided to think or do would have profound effects on men and gods for thousands of years to come.

At that time, the Captain and Souvlikos had been discussing how to forcibly convert the Kekusutan, with trickery, blood and terror, to the worship of Aurora. Once that was done, they would be subservient to us, and could be controlled as a second army. I despised this idea, especially as it came now, when any such thoughts had unusual power. Surprisingly, my main ally against this was the Priest. The argument raged back and forth over the days, and I seriously considered breaking my oath and killing the Standardbearer. His poisonous ideas and desire for power could destroy us all and damage the world. I think they all saw my resolution against the plan and with the Priest supporting me, we managed to distract them onto other matters, at least for a little while.

I had nightmares of a future where civilians and children were converted at sword-point to a religion they neither wanted nor understood. I would swim in the blood of my brothers before I could allow such a thing to happen. Religion may be a crutch for the witless, but it should never be the bludgeon of a dictator.

The Rangers reported that the Snake-heads and the Kekusutan were having minor skirmishes on the plains below the mountains. Snake-head patrols were raiding for meat - either Pithekos or Metakeenos.

Over the next two weeks, these encounters grew worse, and Kengerian continued to decipher the writings we had found.

During this time, the Captain and other interfering busybodies again contacted Aurora. This is the conversation, as reported by the Captain and Stutter:

What significance has the dawn to this cycle of change. Are the Dawn and the name Aurora ubiquitous or, like the form Aurora takes, different in different cycles?

THE COMING OF THE DAWN SIGNIFIES CHANGE IN THIS CYCLE. THERE ARE MANY SUCH CYCLES BUT MY VISION IS NOT UNLIMITED, NOR ARE THOSE OTHER CYCLES NECESSARILY OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE TO DETERMINING HOW THIS CYCLE IS STRUNG. IT IS SAID THAT MEN HAVE FREE WILL, THAT THE CYCLE IS FORMED AS THEY EXERCISE IT. IT IS NOT GIVEN TO ME TO PERCEIVE THE THREADS OF THE WEB IN THE FAR FUTURE OF THIS CYCLE; I CAN SEE THE SHAPE, BUT NOT THE DETAILS. AND WHO CAN SAY WHERE ONE CYCLE ENDS AND ANOTHER BEGINS?

Why was the Company chosen to receive Aurora? What qualities do we possess that differentiate us from other, perhaps more worthy recipients?

YOU HAVE GATHERED ENOUGH SPIRIT, LIFE, LOYALTY, CALL IT WHAT YOU WILL, TO BECOME A TRIBE, THAT FIGHTS AND BLEEDS AS ONE, YET YOU ARE A TRIBE UNLIKE ANYTHING THAT HAS EXISTED BEFORE IN THIS CYCLE, FOR YOU ARE JOINED NOT BY KINSHIP BUT BY CURSE AND SWORN BOND. TRIBES DRAW AROUND THEM GODS TO PROTECT THEM AND ACT AS THEIR PATRON. WHAT BETTER TRIBE FOR THE CHANGE OF DAWN TO PATRONISE?

Who was ultimately responsible for laying the curse on the Company's founders?

THERE ARE NO ULTIMATE CAUSES, ONLY THREADS PULLING ON THREADS THAT PULL ON THREADS THAT PULL ON THREADS. THE BERDEVO AND THE RAKHOKALIA PULLED THE THREAD, BUT THE HANDS THAT GUIDED THEIR HANDS WERE TOO MANY TO COUNT AND FEW KNEW IT DIRECTLY. YOU SEEK CONCRETE ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS THAT ARE AS MIST IN THE MORNING.

What part did the Rakhokalia demons play in these events? If the gods of this world are to be Changed, what will be the effect on the demons which are reputably from other worlds?

IN THIS CYCLE THERE IS A STRUGGLE BETWEEN YOU, THE CHILDREN WHO PASS THROUGH THE WHEEL, AND THE OLD ONES WHO PASS WITHOUT TURNING. THE RAKHOKALIA HAVE FOUND THEIR ANGELHOOD; YOU HAVE NOT YET FOUND YOURS. WHO KNOWS WHICH WILL EXERT THE GREATEST PULL ON THE WEBS OF THIS CYCLE? NOT I, BUT I SEEK TO PROTECT YOU FROM THOSE WHO WOULD DESTROY YOU, FOR I AM YOUR PATRON, CALLED TO SERVE YOU. THE OTHER WORLDS YOU SPEAK OF ARE NOT REAL IN THE SENSE IN WHICH YOU MEAN IT. THEY ARE JUST OTHER SPACES WITHIN THE WEB OF THIS CYCLE.

I've read that demons once inhabited Galadiahos. Do demons still inhabit parts of this world, or have they all departed for other worlds? And if so, why did they leave?

THE DEMONS OF WHICH YOU SPEAK ARE THE RAKHOKALIA AND THEY EXIST STILL IN THIS WORLD. THEY HAVE NOT EXERTED THEIR ULTIMATE EFFORTS THUS FAR TO PREVENT YOUR SPREAD ACROSS THE WORLD FOR LAND MEANS LITTLE TO THEM. BUT THEY CAN BE PUSHED ONLY SO FAR BEFORE THEY FEEL THE THREAT.

What do the Rakhokalia stand to gain or lose in the coming Change. What are their intentions? If as we suspect their servants tried to enslave us with a contract, what will they do now that plan failed through your intervention?

THEY WILL USE YOU, SUBVERT YOU, TURN YOU, EVEN FIGHT AND DESTROY YOU, FOR THEY FEAR YOUR (OUR!) COMING

What can you tell me about the following vision: "A three-fingered man, a storm gathering around a barren pinnacle of stone and a great explosion of scarlet light that will freeze all it touches. Behind it all is the scent of cinnamon and the demons of a thousand worlds."

IT IS NOT ONE VISION BUT MANY. ALL THAT YOU DESCRIBE WILL COME TO PASS, FOR IT IS IN THE VERY SHAPE OF THE WEB OF THIS CYCLE. IN WHAT WAY AND WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES MAY BE NONE, NOT EVEN I, CAN SAY. FREE WILL MUST DECIDE.

The servants in the ruins on the mountain south of here are preparing for the return of their "Master". What is the nature of their master and how soon will he arrive? What can we do to disrupt their preparations, and ideally prevent his arrival completely?

THEIR MASTER IS ONE OF THE RAKHOKALIA, THE ONE WHOSE INFLUENCE CAUSED THE FORMATION OF YOUR BRIGADE. HIS WAS ONE OF THE HANDS PULLING AT THE WEB. HE SEES THAT DIMLY NOW AND SEEKS TO REMOVE HIS MISTAKE. WE WILL REQUIRE ALL OUR ABILITIES TO RESIST HIM, FOR ALL THAT HE IS WEAKER THAN MANY OF HIS RACE. WE MUST STAND UNITED.

The Boss and Vreeo were keen on an assault on the Yelani ruins. This was mainly in an attempt to delay the inevitable return of some bastard Rakhokalia. The plan needed a lot of toning down because an assault on a fortified camp would have led to a very swift end to our encounter with destiny. It was decided that trickery and magic should be the main force used - good to see the old standards still in favour. However, these plans required Vreeo at least to be fluent in the Snake-heads' language. After huge amounts of soul searching Souvlikos persuaded our glorious leaders that his god could gift the necessary information. This, oddly enough, required a living sacrifice. Just to make it extra special, the sacrifice ought to be a powerful Yelani.

The two sorcerors, the Priest, and the Sergeant wandered off into the woods in search of an appropriate victim - spot the religious members of our troupe, all willing to wallow in blood for the sake of learning a new language. They came back later, looking fairly smug, Vreeo beginning to worry about the ease of her contract with Ssfayee.

The assault groups numbered three for this interesting little challenge. Vreeo and a couple of also-rans were to hide outside the ruins - I volunteered but was turned down for this brave job. Setrika would lead ten others to hold the entrance to the cave, and the Boss, the Standardbearer, the Sergeant, the Priest, Lumpius and me would abseil into a cavern and attack an outnumbering force of giant lizard-headed monsters, two of whom were probably powerful sorcerors. I suspect I was the most nervous of this heroic band, as I didn't have the supporting power of my faith in a naked tart. This woman may indeed be very powerful, but faith alone does not make for a good battle plan.

The sorcerous jiggery-pokery went off without a hitch, and we reached the bottom of the cavern to face a mere nine guards plus the king and queen. Souvlikos cast an absolutely minging spell which dominated the king's mind. This distracted the king from his evil intents, and the king in turn distracted the guards. This left only the queen for the rest of us to deal with. We then steamed into the queen - from memory, she was about twelve foot tall with more heads than I want to think about. The Captain got severely battered, as did Vika, but we eventually killed her off. By that point the sounds of bleeding brothers had luckily summoned the Lieutenant and her crew, and we made short work of the others. During the subsequent back-slapping and toasts in overly warm green beer, I managed to discover some small treasures. They included a small gold ingot, a tin coin from Pembelian (a large port city to the south of Merah), and a bell decorated with a flawed amber stone with an insect trapped inside. We all then ran screaming into the woods to hide from the returning, and very upset, Yelani - but not before we had desecrated their tower and cave with numerous sickening little trophies.

Once we were back at camp, I took the bell to Vreeo. I had a feeling that it had more than artistic merit. I was right! This showed Vreeo that I had the potential to be a sorceror. We then did magical stuff that is none of your concern, and I got the power to cast spells! Bloody Hell!