Eternal Beasts

Buried Treasure

Like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, he too had faced the vahndim in battle as he and his encampment fought to keep the eastern reaches of Corlest free of the Darkness. But unlike Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Bithra, he wasn't convinced by two acts of goodness to trust the vahndim's apparent turn to the Light. He had lost far too many of his own people to their treachery for that!

"They don't need us to lead them there for that, Phin," Mordecai pragmatically pointed out. "They appear to be skilled enough to locate it on their own, if that was their intent."

Phineas speared him with a hard look.

"They save you and now you're friends, Mordecai?" he growled. "Is that it?" Phineas turned to point at the patiently waiting vahndim. "They were created by nysim-suru co-mingling with cholim, Mordecai. Cholim! The sworn enemies of everything we hold dear! You spent your entire life fighting the Harbingers. Fighting cholim. And with a single act, you're willing to forgive them for all the atrocities they've committed against your encampment??"

"It's not as simple as that, brother," Seth pointed out. Only to have Phineas round on him, his face a mask of anger.

"Says the elf that tells agents of the enemy the exact reason why we're here," the easterner spat. "Why don't you just shoot us all in the head for them while you're at it, Seth, and save them the trouble!"

Mordecai stepped close to put a big hand on Phineas's shoulder.

"I didn't say anything about forgiving anybody, Phineas," the big northerner rumbled. "Nor have I embraced these vahndim rebels as comrades and friends. But read the wind, my brother. We are heavily outnumbered here. If they wanted us dead, we'd be bleeding out on the ground."

"We don't count them as lightlings," Seth added, his expression intent. "But the thaumaturge thinks their desire to serve the Light is real enough that she sent them to our aide."

"A thaumaturge that's spent a decade purging the Darkness from this valley," Mordecai continued. "If such a force for the Light believes in them, shouldn't we at least give them the chance to prove themselves?"

Phineas stared hard at Mordecai for a long moment, his expression unrelenting. Then he abruptly grimaced.

"Fine. A chance." He held up an index finger. "But just one. If they falter, we kill them all!"

Seth looked over at the gathered vahndim, who had watched their exchange in Iesho with interest. It didn't take a wizard or a scholar to see the vahndim numbers exceeded that of their own small company by several orders of magnitude. While he didn't doubt Phineas's courage and resolve, the easterner's promise of retribution didn't seem very practical. Still, if it meant they could move on and return to the search ...

"One chance," he echoed before looking back at a frowning Phineas.

"One chance," Mordecai rumbled in agreement. "If they falter, I'll help you in cutting them down myself!"

"Are we set here, friends?" Timothy stepped close to ask, also in Iesho.

The wizard had remained with the nomads throughout, bearing witness to not only Phineas's righteous anger. But to the vahndim healer's efforts to save Mordecai as well. Having seen the subtle gesture from Bithra, his commander, the wizard knew it was time to reel the nomads back in. Hopefully before the schism grew too wide to bridge.

The three elves looked at him with almost identical expressions of thoughtful consideration. Then Phineas nodded.

"We're set," he added. Then, together, they strode resolutely to where the war leaders stood with the vahndim leader, Kalannar.