The situation wasn't quite as dire as they'd feared, but it was also worse than they'd hoped. Most of Kernohest was still standing, but it was far from untouched. The village was surrounded by charred earth as the cold, autumn wind whistled through the air unimpeded by trees that had been reduced to ashen stumps. The swap meet had ended by now, and all the stalls were gone from the marketplace, leaving the big, bowl-shaped commons empty.
Several plots of land that had once been occupied by buildings were now occupied by ashen rubble. Among those were Melser's Kitchen and Drogan's blacksmithy. Only the stone fireplace of the kitchen and a few bones of the walls remained. Svenden watched Leofric's face warily as they approached the rubble, wondering how the scholar would respond to this disaster. There was a grim resignation on Leofric's face, a subdued impassivity as his eyes glided over the wreckage. He'd been bracing himself for just such a harrowing discovery, and he seemed to be taking it in stride now.
Kithana had opted not to follow the two men into the village, and she remained hiding a few hundred yards off, peeking out warily from behind a pile of burnt debris. A real live elemental was never welcome in any human village, but the last time she'd been in this particular village was when she bolted through the crowded marketplace and upended a couple wagons. It wasn't clear that anyone had recognized her then as the dancer illusion from Melser's magic shows, inexplicably brought to life; but Kithana didn't think this was the time to try to introduce herself for real.
Leofric sighed heavily. "I hope Melser and Amanda got out before it burned," he said solemnly, "I'm sure they would have been warned. The druids were usually good about that."
"They didn't do so well the night that rogue came," Svenden reminded him, "The town had no warning then. They were lucky Callyndia just happened to be in town."
Leofric nodded, but his eyes were out over the rubble, and his mind was somewhere else entirely. "Do you think this was our fault?" he asked, "Could we have stopped this if we hadn't left?"
Svenden sighed. "They had other runners on the line," he said, "They should have been able to manage without us." His eyes were surveying the scene, and there was a definite feel of magic in the air. "Besides, this doesn't look like a wildfire that got out of hand: look." He pointed towards the edges of the burn marks on the ground. "It looks like the fire started inside here, and burst outward."
Leofric frowned. "Interesting," he said, "I think you're right. But that only has me more worried. What happened?"
There was the sound of a creaking door off towards the middle of town, and both of them saw two wide-eyed women beckoning towards them. It was a Drogan's wife, Holly, and Mrs. Ferryn, who owned the home. "Get out of the street!" Mrs. Ferryn in a hushed tone, "Hurry!"
"Mrs. Ferryn!" Leofric said, "What's happened?"
"Get out of the street!" Holly said, beckoning them urgently, "Come!"
Svenden's eyes were instantly scanning the entire area, looking for dangers as he subconsciously hefted Silversprig's Arc and reached for some arrows. "What is it?" he asked as they cautiously approached the door.
Suddenly, the building across the street from Mrs. Ferryn's home burst into flames. The two women gulped in surprise and ducked back into the home, slamming the door behind them.
Leofric immediately began casting a spell and dumping magic into the burning building. The flames wavered and cowered before him, but didn't go out. The wizard's eyebrows raised. "Something's wrong with that fire," he said, "It won't... I can't put it out!"
Suddenly, the window burst as a portion of the fire leapt forth in the form of a man, rushing right at Leofric. Svenden swiftly loosed an arrow, but it flew directly through the fiery creature and disappeared beyond. There wasn't even so much as a swirl of flame around the arrow's entry point.
"Something's wrong with that elemental!" Svenden said.
Leofric fell back in surprise, tripping over himself and landing awkwardly on the ground as the elemental surged forward. It landed on top of Leofric and burst into a small wave of flame that suddenly vanished as if it had never existed.
The two men stood in the street, blinking in confusion for a moment.
"An... illusion?" Leofric asked, "What...?"
Around the corner of the building, another blob of fire peeled away and formed into Kithana. She was looking around nervously, her mannerisms awkward and stilted in her uniquely alien way. "Are you alright?" she asked Leofric, "What happened?"
"I don't know," Leofric responded, "Is this... is this fire real?" He held out his hand towards the burning building. "It feels warm."
"It's real," Kithana replied, "Do you have your protection spell on?"
"I do," Leofric said. Then, his eyes suddenly went wide. "Oh, no I don't!" He quickly began digging into his satchel for spell ingredients.
"It's okay," Kithana said, "You'll be fine without it. I don't think there's another elemental in there."
There was a tingle of magic on the back of Svenden's neck as Kithana stepped past him and walked towards Leofric. It seemed stronger than usual for her. She must be feeding off the fires in some way.
"Are you sure?" Svenden asked, "How do you know?"
Leofric looked up and suddenly realized that Kithana had exposed herself to public view. He paused his spellcasting and held a hand out towards her. "Kithana, stay back!" he said as he looked nervously over his shoulder towards Mrs. Hallis's door, "They'll see you!"
She ignored him and reached out to touch him. "I'm not worried now," she said, "I think I'm ready to introduce myself."
"Is now really the best time?" Leofric asked. He stepped forward to take her gently into his arms and usher her back towards the flames, where she could hide from view. "Come now! You should stay—"
His words choked off into a loud cry of pain. The sleeves of his shirt caught fire, and he pulled back away from Kithana in surprise. His hands immediately began dancing about, resuming the gestures for the protection spell.
Kithana's face looked worried as she stepped forward to console him, but hesitated, unsure if she could touch him without burning him further.
"What happened?" Svenden asked.
Kithana suddenly smiled. "It looks like he didn't get his protection spell up in time," she said, her voice suddenly sounding very different.
In the blink of an eye, she dove at Leofric, tackling him before his spell was completed. His magic dissipated into the air as he fell backwards with a fire elemental on top of him. Leofric screamed in agony as the flames engulfed him.
And the form of Kithana melted into a fireball and rolled off Leofric's body. Then it reformed into human shape, as if standing up from a kneeling position. But it wasn't Kithana: it looked different. A fairly short man with a beard and curling ram's horns from his temples.
"Melser?" Svenden asked in shock.