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-----Sol nods thoughtfully at Seth's suggestion, but holds up his hand as a signal to wait. He takes the torch from Seth's hands and dashes back through the middle door. The warrior returns a few moments later with the shield of the 'Knight Errant' tucked under an arm.
-----He offers an explanation, "When we return t'Hearthorn, maybe I can send a message wi' th' shield to th' Order, so they'll know their companion's fate."
-----The adventurers then gather together and move to leave the darkness of the dungeon. Exiting the room, they walk down the short corridor to the larger room where the children’s blanket and toy were found. At the other end of the room, they see dim daylight filtering down the spiraling stone stairs that lead to the top.
-----Climbing out of the dark, everyone takes some time letting their eyes adjust to the bright sunlight of the afternoon. As they top the stairs, Rinda calls to them. The huntress is hidden in some of the tall grass with Jamison.
-----As some of the party approaches, the weakened halfling raises somewhat and looks at everyone. Through the tears in his eyes and with a choked voice, he says, "I want to thank you, . . ." Rinda pats his arm as Jamison finds he cannot speak further.
-----The huntress swallows hard and looking at Sol and Raven says, "Can someone get the horses? We may be able to leave through there." She points at the large ‘tunnel’ someone had burrowed through the briars.
-----Raven says, "I'll get the horses." Raven starts off, vanishing into the tunnel that brought everyone here to the ruin. After the better part of a half-hour, the ranger returns, this time coming out of the large tunnel at the south side of the clearing. The horses follow him tied together in a straight line.
-----Everyone mounts up and Sol holds Jamison in front of him as he rides. Over an hour later, the party arrives back at the small home where the Kiger family lives. Alber and his family come out and help Jamison inside. After he has been placed in bed, Alber follows the adventurers outside where they tell the old hobbit all that has occurred. As the remains are taken down, Alber expresses his thanks.
-----"Here, take this," Sarah says, giving Alber her share of the coins found with the rats. "And this." She says, adding her share of the platinum to it. "And this." She adds, taking a pouch off of her belt and putting it on top of the pile. "I wish I could help you more, but it's all I have."
-----The old halfling raises his hand to Sarah. "Thank you, Milady," he says sadly, "but we do not require charity. My family just needs time to mourn."
-----Back outside, Sol had been considering his question carefully, and he finally asks, "Alber, I don't want to drag up old memories, but I'm afraid I need to know. What reasons did Sir Hampton's men have for not finding those missing? Surely they had the same information as we did." Sol's voice is soft, compassionate and somewhat formal, but this is something that the warrior obviously needs to know. The clenched left fist and the narrowed eyes betray this fact as surely as if he'd openly admitted it.
-----"I do not know," Alber says in answer to Sol, "I don’t remember the children’s hiding place being mentioned when they came here. Still, a knight should know his territory, or so I thought. I would think he would know to check any ruins in his area, especially one that is close to us."
-----"Yes. Yes, you would." Sol agrees grimly. Sol walks back to Thunder and mounts up. "You have our deepest sympathies, Alber. Unless there was something else you'd want to tell us, we should continue on."
-----Seth watches the proceedings from the back of the group. He looks around the sky and then mounts up on his horse and waits for the group to head off. While he waits, he pulls out his harp and plays some mourning music that his mother taught him, music of the elves.
-----Raven sits quietly on his horse listening to the old hobbit. Raven then says, "Our thoughts will be with your family at this sad time." Raven pauses as if to say more, but the sadness in his eyes says it all. Raven turns his horse to leave.
-----Alber bows as the adventurers leave and slowly enters his house.
-----For a while, everyone rides in silence with the light breeze of the late afternoon at their backs. Soon the trees begin to become more numerous around them and the buildings of Proat can be seen up ahead.
-----During the ride back, Seth calls Albert to him and talks to him and tries to find a scrap of food to feed him.
-----Rinda interrupts the quiet, softly saying, "If we are headed to the temple, Zan could give you more healing, Sol." Turning toward Raven, she adds, "Before you do anything else, I need to look at your wound." Glancing up at the sky, Rinda then says, "The sun will be setting in two hours."
-----"More healing? Ye've done more than enough healin'. I'm fine already, it was one little bite," Sol spurts out. Then he clears his throat in an attempt to retain dignity. He looks up at the sun briefly before suggesting, "We could probably cover a fair bit of ground in the couple of hours we have left, but it's probably better to stop over here again. What do ye all prefer?"
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