-----Rand smiles at Thalog upon hearing Arliss's words. He then walks up to Thalog and says in an undertone, "Well mage, have you any spells that might aid us in gaining entrance to the keep or shall we begin our return journey to Hearthorn?"
-----Raven grabs Arliss' arm, "Hold, what do you mean something is 'amiss' in Hearthorn? We just came from there, did you think Broacter is evil? I sure don't. What did you expect Krondor to say, 'Yep I was up to no good and tried to snare a druid, but the druid broke free and kicked my ass'? Of course not! I say we stick around this keep for one night and see if there is anything of a foul nature here." Raven pauses and
seems to calm down, "But that is only my opinion, I could be wrong. Maybe the source of the evil is neither Broacter or Krondor, but instead the evil is hiding in the shadows and we can not see it yet." Raven rubs his temples. "I'm getting a headache."
-----Arliss pulls up short at Raven's words, and turns around abruptly. His eyes flash, and it looks as if he is about to speak harshly, but then he stops himself, takes a deep breath, and forces himself to calmly say,
"Raven...I just don't know. I cannot rightly say, but my instincts tell me that what that young man just said is the truth. I believe that something terrible has happened at Hearthorn, and that Sir Krondor has suffered injury because of it. Who is responsible? That I do not know, but a suspicion has entered my mind.
It seems that perhaps there is a third party at work here, the true source of the land's curse, one who is playing both sides against the other...Broactor versus Krondor. Who knows, it is just a thought. Still, my feeling is that the answers lie at Hearthorn. I do not believe we will benefit by remaining here any longer. Indeed, I wish now that we had already been in Hearthorn! Well, Rand, Thalog...it appears that we will need additional voices to settle this matter. Do we wait for a night, and observe the keep, or do we make
haste for Hearthorn?" Arliss sighs heavily, obviously frustrated at this latest turn of events. He waits to hear what his other companions would do...
-----Raven also sighs and says, "I'll go with whatever the group wants to do. One thing to keep in mind, which I didn't think about, I don't know if we want to be camping out with the animals not right in their heads. We might have some...problems." Raven chuckles, "I seem to be voting against my first idea." Raven looks to Rand and Thalog, "Well? What say you?"
-----Turning to face Arliss and Raven, Rand replies "Staying here will not likely solve anything, I believe we should journey forth to Hearthorn. Who knows what terrible things might have befallen Hearthorn. I pray
to Solarius that we will not arrive to find some disaster has struck Hearthorn". Rand turns to speak to Thalog, "And what do you, our mysterious mage, think of our current situation?"
-----Thalog's head has been lowered ever since the companions approached the Keep. Now it rises breaking the wall of silence that surrounds him. He looks at each man with a face set stronger than the stone of Krondor's Keep as he speaks. "Raven has defeated his own suggestion, so we only have the path of Hearthorn to follow. Krondor's injury happened before the tournament for it caused him not to compete. This curse is a sickness and one of the ways sickness is passed on is through wounds. Now may I point out that both Krondor and Broactor have been wounded resiliently." Thalog looks at Arliss. "Perhaps The High Guardian can find some way of pulling rank on Krondor?" Thalog mounts his horse, then turns to Arliss and says, "Lead on, faithful Knight."