“Aulogemscire, your treasonous pusillanimity exceeds all bounds! You are nought but a craven wretch, beguiling the good Lord Uldmar with your winewords!” “Cease this foolery at once!” called a voice. The two of us approached, stepping out from our respective lines, however before Ivaldi could hand Echo over there was a gurgling, childish roar from behind him and a ripple ran through the crowd. “As a… gesture of good will between our peoples, I would like to return this… your… Echo to you, Safkhet.” Perhaps he had seen my dismay, as Ivaldi was the first to speak up. Without a chance to collect my thoughts I found myself propelled to the front of my rescuers, arrayed in a loose group of varying species and scales, facing the smaller and more uniform Pharyes opposite.Īll eyes were on me in a moment, and I felt myself blushing as I struggled to think of something to say. Like the surfacers, they were clearly suffering with the heat and humidity of the cavern, but neither side seemed willing to be the first to complain. Nor were the Pharyes entirely trusting us either – their remaining golems and combat suits were lined up to either side of the delegation on foot. It helped to see that Echo was safe and unharmed – as much as I wanted to trust Ivaldi and the others it had still worried me to leave them in Pharyes hands. Lord Uldmar was already present, and with him was Ivaldi, who was gingerly holding Echo in his undersized hands. I wasn’t sure how they would get themselves free, but that would likely be one of many urgent topics for discussion once the two sides were actually talking. Boiling off such a huge flood seemed to be slowly solidifying the surface of the magma flow, but there was still a lot of heat and vapor around – and a giant hole to deal with. The menacing aura emerged around the Pharyes vehicle, still trapped in place in a waterfall over a pit of molten rock. Returning to the site of the ambush and battle the steam clouds filling the cavern thickened, the calmer colors of the foliage subsumed into the ominous red glow of magma. I would have preferred to fight another pack of kajatora… provided I could get a change of clothes afterwards.
I’d never had the linguistic capacity to serve as a translator before, so given that my first time would be in negotiating a cease-fire that could stop a war and save thousands of lives I was feeling a whole new kind of pressure. I had another friend to recover, and a difficult meeting to facilitate. Although briefly distracted by the delight of new clothes, I had no chance to enjoy showing them off to my friends and saviors, or indeed to just take the time to relax from the hectic and tumultuous journey I’d taken to reunite with them.
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