with knowledge about Xen’drik and experience digging through the ruins.”
“But they got you instead,” Mathas said.
“Exactly. And I’m pretty sure King Boranel has regretted it ever since.”
“So how did the rest of you get involved?” Auftane asked.
Janik looked at Mathas and Dania. “Maija,” he said.
“Maija and I grew up together,” Dania said. “We weren’t in the same social circles, but we met when we were girls and somehow kept up a friendship after that.”
“And I met her when I was studying religion, briefly, at the Pavilion of the Host,” Mathas said. “She was an acolyte there for a time.”
“She and Janik were pretty much inseparable,” Dania added, “so she was the force that drew us all together.”
“Right,” Janik said. “When Lord Kor asked me to assemble an expedition to Xen’drik, I went to Maija, and she got me Mathas and Dania.”
“I still don’t know how you got me pulled off the frontlines,” Dania said. She was staring at the middle of the table, difficult memories starting to crowd into her mind.
“You can thank Lord Kor for that,” Janik said, “and Maija. She told me she wanted you, I told Kor you were essential, and he got you for us.”
“You were fighting in the war?” Captain Avaen asked Dania.
“I enlisted as soon as I was old enough, which was as good a way as any to get out of my father’s house.”
The captain looked surprised. “Yours is a noble family, is it not?”
“Oh yes, the line of ir’Vran goes back to the first nobles of Breland. And my father could easily have kept me from combat duty, if I hadn’t volunteered for it.” Dania was still staring at the polished wood of the tabletop, not looking at the captain.
“So Lord Kor put the four of us on a ship to Xen’drik,” Janik said, trying to steer the conversation away from Dania’s painful memories of the war. “And we trudged through the jungle to a tiny ruin full of baboons, remember?”
“Rabid baboons,” Mathas said, chuckling.
“Corrupted baboons,” Dania said. “That was no disease—there was an evil in that place that made them that way.”
“And that big one nearly ripped my arms off,” Janik said. He turned to Auftane and the captain. “It was holding me right up to its face, my feet dangling above the ground, and tugging on me like a rag doll, screeching like a banshee. Then all of a sudden it got this quizzical look on its big baboon face and started to look behind it, and then it just fell over dead. Dania had neatly cut right through its spine.”
“And did you find what you were looking for?” the captain asked.
“No, but neither did Krael, who was in charge of the Emerald Claw expedition. Eventually we came back to Breland with some good information about the Emerald Claw’s intentions there, and that convinced the king that we were worth what he was paying us.”
“And what were they doing?” Auftane said.
“Mathas, you can explain it better than I can,” Janik demurred.
“They were building some kind of magical device around a manifest zone they had discovered,” the elf began.
“A manifest zone?” the captain asked.
“A place where the boundaries between the planes are thin. In that particular location, the plane of Shavarath, called the Battleground, was somehow close at hand. They were building a device in the hope of bringing some of that plane’s warring inhabitants into our plane to fight on their behalf.”
“It could have been quite devastating,” Dania added, “if they had been successful. Imagine an army of demons marching at Karrnath’s command.”
“Or a swarm of blades flying through the air, unhindered by any defense their opponents could muster,” Mathas said.
“So we snuck in and destroyed their precious device,” Janik said.
“I’m surprised Breland didn’t want it for itself,” the captain said. “Even the best of nations, when at war, can lose sight of the proper perspective on such
“But they got you instead,” Mathas said.
“Exactly. And I’m pretty sure King Boranel has regretted it ever since.”
“So how did the rest of you get involved?” Auftane asked.
Janik looked at Mathas and Dania. “Maija,” he said.
“Maija and I grew up together,” Dania said. “We weren’t in the same social circles, but we met when we were girls and somehow kept up a friendship after that.”
“And I met her when I was studying religion, briefly, at the Pavilion of the Host,” Mathas said. “She was an acolyte there for a time.”
“She and Janik were pretty much inseparable,” Dania added, “so she was the force that drew us all together.”
“Right,” Janik said. “When Lord Kor asked me to assemble an expedition to Xen’drik, I went to Maija, and she got me Mathas and Dania.”
“I still don’t know how you got me pulled off the frontlines,” Dania said. She was staring at the middle of the table, difficult memories starting to crowd into her mind.
“You can thank Lord Kor for that,” Janik said, “and Maija. She told me she wanted you, I told Kor you were essential, and he got you for us.”
“You were fighting in the war?” Captain Avaen asked Dania.
“I enlisted as soon as I was old enough, which was as good a way as any to get out of my father’s house.”
The captain looked surprised. “Yours is a noble family, is it not?”
“Oh yes, the line of ir’Vran goes back to the first nobles of Breland. And my father could easily have kept me from combat duty, if I hadn’t volunteered for it.” Dania was still staring at the polished wood of the tabletop, not looking at the captain.
“So Lord Kor put the four of us on a ship to Xen’drik,” Janik said, trying to steer the conversation away from Dania’s painful memories of the war. “And we trudged through the jungle to a tiny ruin full of baboons, remember?”
“Rabid baboons,” Mathas said, chuckling.
“Corrupted baboons,” Dania said. “That was no disease—there was an evil in that place that made them that way.”
“And that big one nearly ripped my arms off,” Janik said. He turned to Auftane and the captain. “It was holding me right up to its face, my feet dangling above the ground, and tugging on me like a rag doll, screeching like a banshee. Then all of a sudden it got this quizzical look on its big baboon face and started to look behind it, and then it just fell over dead. Dania had neatly cut right through its spine.”
“And did you find what you were looking for?” the captain asked.
“No, but neither did Krael, who was in charge of the Emerald Claw expedition. Eventually we came back to Breland with some good information about the Emerald Claw’s intentions there, and that convinced the king that we were worth what he was paying us.”
“And what were they doing?” Auftane said.
“Mathas, you can explain it better than I can,” Janik demurred.
“They were building some kind of magical device around a manifest zone they had discovered,” the elf began.
“A manifest zone?” the captain asked.
“A place where the boundaries between the planes are thin. In that particular location, the plane of Shavarath, called the Battleground, was somehow close at hand. They were building a device in the hope of bringing some of that plane’s warring inhabitants into our plane to fight on their behalf.”
“It could have been quite devastating,” Dania added, “if they had been successful. Imagine an army of demons marching at Karrnath’s command.”
“Or a swarm of blades flying through the air, unhindered by any defense their opponents could muster,” Mathas said.
“So we snuck in and destroyed their precious device,” Janik said.
“I’m surprised Breland didn’t want it for itself,” the captain said. “Even the best of nations, when at war, can lose sight of the proper perspective on such
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