Chronicles of a So-called Fire God (Abridged)

24. Who am I?

We took our time journeying back to Grennis, which was mercifully uneventful. Three days of no distractions, no unexpected encounters and notably no interruptions by a certain Imp.

At midday on the last day of our trek, we reached the southern gates of Grennis. The captain of the guard handed me a note as we passed through. He recognised us from when we handed over Ava to his men. The note was from Lord Alric of the town militia, he requested our presence, if we were to return, for a report on our expedition.

We decided to visit Alric first, and then go on to meet with Torq's family. 

We caught up with Alric just as he was entering the guard house in the centre of town.

"Ah, gentleman. It is good to see you are well. I trust your expedition was a success?" 

"It was," I said. "Those death cultists won't be a trouble any more."

Alric led us into his office and offered us a seat and a drink of something very pungent. I declined, but Lestergrad and Torq both accepted. The face Lestergrad pulled after drinking it told me I had made the right choice. We then, all three of us, told Alric of our trek, the details of the caverns we were led to and of the demon that was behind all this. Little bits here and there were omitted, such as the goblins and assisting Gobbo to claim the throne of the Goblin King. Alric seemed quite pleased that we had routed the cultists but was troubled about possible repercussions from the demon Renkle.

"I would not worry about Renkle," I said. "He won't be around for a while."

"And if he were to try again, it is likely be will come for us and not this town," said Torq. 

This seemed to appease Alric slightly. 

"What about Sister Ava?" asked Lestergrad. 

Alric paused and sighed. "Yes, a most troublesome individual." He stood and walked over to a cabinet hung on the wall with a selection of keys hanging on hooks, opened it and took a brass key from one of the hooks. "Come with me. Please." 

He led us down through a corridor to an iron-banded, wooden door. He placed the key in the lock and turned it, behind the door, there were many bolts being drawn back, the sound also appeared to come from within the walls. Whatever, or possibly whoever, was not leaving easily. I noticed in the archway above the door that there were some runes carved into the stones. I didn't recognise the markings, but they flared before the door finally opened. It was clear that this door was also locked by magical means.

Inside, we could see a single cell with iron bars from the floor to the ceiling. Behind the bars was Ava. She looked cared for and was laying on a comfortable looking bed reading a book. There was a bookshelf next to the bed containing other books. 

At our arrival, Ava stood and came to the bars. She placed the book carefully onto the top of the small bookcase. "My friends. Have you come to take me home?"

We looked at each other awkwardly, neither of us wanted to answer. Alric took that as his cue.

"Sister Ava, these gentlemen are not here to take you home. Mainly because we don't know where your home is, or what plane of existence it would be on. You won't tell us."

Ava looked confused at this. "Plane?" she said.

"It is a difficult concept," I said. "There are many planes of existence. The gods, for example, are said to live in their own planes, each one a dedicated environment to that god or goddess. This, where we are now, is what scholars call the Material Plane but someone like Therral, the god of death, lives on the Plane of Waste."

"Gron, the great dwarven god, we have a few gods but Gron is at the top," said Torq, "resides in the Iron Plane. An endless landscape of mountains full of dwarven halls where all the fallen heroes from dwarven history now rest."

Ava nodded at this, but her face told me she did not really understand. I tried to conjure an illusion of the Great Map of the Planes I once saw many years ago, but my magic would not work. Alric noticed I was attempting magic.

"This place is sealed against magic. You will be unable to cast any spells here, wizard," he said. He emphasised 'wizard' to give me a hint to hide my true nature.

"Yes. I am unable to open this lock," Ava agreed.

"Ava, do you know where you came from?" This time it was Lestergrad.

"I do not. Am I not from here?" she asked.

"Unfortunately not. You didn't even know what a tree was until we met you," I said. "Were you born in the Underside?" I thought that maybe she was a denizen of the underground world, or maybe she had been kept there for most of her life.

"I do not remember. My earliest memory is our meeting on the road to here. And the dog-men that attacked us."

I turned to Alric. "Maybe we could help her to remember who she is, but that will require letting her out of here."

Alric looked fearful. "It took ten of my men to get her into this room alone. Two of them will never walk again without significant help from the clerics."

"We will have to get her agreement that she will behave. Unfortunately we have other business before we can do that," said Torq.

I nodded, almost forgetting what we had been striving for these past few days. All the while, Ava stood motionless.

"We will return," I said. "My friend Torq here needs to determine if he is his father's son or not."

"Your magic must be very powerful, wizard, if you can do such a thing," said Alric. I smiled each time he called me 'wizard' because it meant he had not discovered my real nature. "No matter," he continued, "we can schedule this for another day." He then motioned for us to leave the gaol.

Back in Alric's office we agreed to return the following day to arrange for Ava be moved outside and to identify where she comes from.

We then headed off to the Goldbrick Mansion to see if Torq Greensaff is really the heir of Dunson Goldbrick. That, however, is a tale for another day.