----- Suddenly, Raven, Thalog, and Rand are alerted to moaning sounds coming from Arliss. Turning toward the paladin, they see Arliss's head stirring from side to side as if shaking off some kind of fit full sleep. Without warning, Arliss sits up, his blue eyes wide open, seeming very disoriented. Glaring across at the captured orcs, his mouth falls open. With a hoarse voice, he shouts, "By the Holy Guardian . . . the fiends! His right hand gropes at his belt searching for his sword.
-----Before the others can react, Arliss attempts to rise to his knees, but falls on his back. So weak as to not be able to draw forth his sword, the paladin manages to push himself back from the huddled orcs as if readying to defend himself.
-----Quickly, he glances around looking at the three men. Slowly, recognition appears on his face and he seems to relax. His face looks slightly flushed, though not from embarrassment. Squinting up at his three companions, he acknowledges them. "Raven . . . Rand . . . Thalog," his weak voice whispers as he clutches Rand's robe and almost causes him to fall, "It is imperative that I return to Hearthorn. . . must see the High Guardian Curate!" He struggles to pull himself up, though he is visibly too weak to do so.
-----"Why must you go to see the High Guardian Curate?" Thalog says to Arliss.
-----"A vision . . ," Arliss struggles also with his words, "too real. I must counsel with my superiors, perhaps even the Lord Lambert himself!"
-----After he responds, Thalog tells him of the information they got out of the orcs, the orc house and the gems.
-----Arliss shakes his head as if to clear confusion. "The madness of the animals . . these orcs . . perhaps they only herald the beginning."
-----Thalog adds, "Krondor's keep is on the way. Would that suffice?"
-----The paladin looks up at the mage, his blue eyes shot with redness, "Nay, my friend, Hearthorn it 'tis for me. An urgency even I do not comprehend claims me."
-----Raven walks back towards Arliss and listens to the exchange between the group. Raven then says, "A vision, huh?" Raven rubs his chin, "Hope it wasn't the poison that gave you those visions, but I'll go with you to this 'High Guardian' place. At least it's an omen to our next move."
-----Raven pauses and with a look of confusion he says, "What is this High Guardian Curate place? How far is it from here?"
-----A faint smile crosses Arliss's face, "The High Guardian Curate holds court in the Temple of the Holy Guardian, Joren. It is located in the town of Hearthorn, which resides about ten miles to the Southeast. Permit me to rest a bit and then we will speak more, my friends."
-----Two hours after Arliss Vanderbrook, Paladin of Joren, awoke, the sun shines midway between the zenith and the horizon. The clear sky, devoid of clouds, is reflected in the paladin's blue eyes. He sits propped up against a foundation stone of an old Gorian building. His chain mail coif now pulled back, exposes his usually full curly black hair. It lays matted moistly to his forehead.
-----Rand kneels nearby watching him take a long drink from a water skin. Over the past hour, the paladin has seemed to slowly regain some of his strength. During this time, Raven brought up the three stone containers and buried them around the corner of a building. Thalog keeps a watch over the trio of captured orcs with his quarterstaff in hand.
-----As Raven rejoins the others, Arliss inhales deeply, closes his eyes and noisily exhales. "Damn this weariness that slows me," he mutters.
-----"The time is at hand, my friends," he says, opening his eyes. "The sun sets in two hours. I know you intend on venturing to the west, but allow me to tell you of what bids me back to Hearthorn. What I witnessed in my delirium defies sound reason."
-----"As the evil humanoid's poison claimed me, I saw myself standing upon a large shadowed plain. There came in my direction a great multitude of beings and creatures such that the world should never bear witness to." Here Arliss closes his eyes again as if struggling to continue. "First, I saw ravenous animals such as our people have been subjected to these past nights. Next, humanoids of every size conceivable stalking and laying waste to all. And finally," Arliss pauses as he swallows hard and squints toward the empty ruins, "horrid, towering fiends, the like of which defies all description and sanity. Behind the mass, there arose a mountain spewing rock and fire from atop its summit."
-----Arliss weakly smiles at each man. "I know it sounds as if no more than a nightmare, but I could not, with all my upbringing, dream, let alone imagine, something so debase, so perverse as this vision that assaulted me."
-----Suddenly two of the captive orcs fell to shouting at one another. The sudden intrusion of sound makes all four men jump. The larger orc with the skullcap begins berating the one-eyed humanoid. The skinny orc remains quiet. The orcs begin kicking at one another while cursing each other in their horrible language.
-----Arliss looks sternly in the direction of the feuding orcs. "Justice demands these evil creatures be slain," he firmly says.
-----Thalog turns his head away and walks off, as he says in an icy stinging tone, "I will go gather the horses."