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Two or three hours later, the rain was still falling heavily. Now covered in thick cloaks to keep them dry, Karn and Shaala darted towards a small inn. With all the damage Dominicon had done, the palace of Bellasaire seemed likely to collapse at any moment and staying the night there was not an option.
Once inside the inn, Karn passed by the few patrons in the bar to the owner while Shaala stood dripping in the doorway. She watched as Karn handed some coins over the man, who looked like he was charging far too much for his rooms. Thankfully though, money was not a problem. Over the years, trading bits and pieces of the vast horde of valuables she had found in Bellasaire, Shaala had amassed enough of it not to worry over little expenses.
“I’ve got a room,” Karn told her, coming back with a key. “Come on.”
Shaala followed him up some stairs. The room was at the end of the corridor and would provide them with plenty of privacy.
When they were inside and Karn had locked the door, Shaala sat down on the simple bed, looking at the rain splashing against the window. Karn pulled up a chair and sat in front of her.
“You should get some rest,” he said. “I’ll keep watch.”
“Don’t be silly,” she replied. “You’re in as much need of sleep as I am and there’s room enough for both of us here. You don’t need to keep watch.”
“I’m all right,” Karn said. Sitting in the small room alone with her, he felt nervous. From the very first moment they met, he had felt a strong attraction to her and lying on the bed beside the object of his desire, being so close and yet so far, seemed more than he could stand.
“How did you become a mage?” Shaala asked him after a few moments, drawing him out of his thoughts.
She was probably just trying to make conversation, Karn thought, but perhaps she sensed his unease. “I don’t really know,” he told her. “I’ve had the gift for as long as I can remember, although I never really tried to harness it at first. But after my parents died, which would have been when I was about eleven, I started drawing on it more and more. Although it wasn’t until I was about eighteen that I met Sól and the others.”
“You were alone for all that time?”
“Yes.”
Shaala gave him a lingering look of sympathy. For a short time, neither of them spoke.
“How did your parents die?” she then asked.
“Killed by the Shavla,” Karn told her. “We were ambushed on the road.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why. I’ve never understood it.”
“Never?” Shaala asked. “I gave you the answer to that tonight.”
Karn looked down. He wondered why Shaala had asked him the question. The ambush by the Shavla was something he had tried to forget for years, not an easy feat with his clarity of memory. Then he looked back at Shaala, frowning. “The marshal of Aracea. Marshal Artaeis is a mage. The Shavla are mages too.”
Shaala nodded. “They’re mages. Not mages like you or your companions though. Not even like the surviving lieutenants of Strahd the Invoker who roam with the Angdar. As far as I can tell, their only real skill in the gift is the ability to hear the voice of their master and carry out his orders. But there are the captains. And I suspect that there are more powerful mages posted in secret throughout Marshal Artaeis’ domain. And I think I know where they come from.”
“In the war between the remnants of the order and the fallen mages,” Karn said, “Askenroth made an orb that helped him find and hunt down enemy mages.”
“The orb of Askenroth,” Shaala said. “I know my history.”
Karn nodded. “Right. But Sól says there’s another orb like that. It’s why we generally stay where we do. Our sanctuary, as we call it, was enchanted long ago for use as a training ground by the first mages. The area seems to baffle this orb.” He paused before continuing. “However, all this time, we’ve thought we were hiding from Strahd’s lieutenants. Dumb Angdar on occasions would ambush us, appearing to have anticipated our plans in advance and we always thought it was those lesser mages using something Strahd had left behind. But if Artaeis and those mages are working together, and if the Shavla are mages who can hear Artaeis’ commands, then Artaeis must be using the orb to track down anyone in his lands with the gift.”
“Recruiting,” Shaala said. “As I see it, the Shavla were after you. They hoped to capture you, fill your head with their ideas, their beliefs, and turn you into one of them. That is the answer you were looking for.”
Karn’s eyes then lit up and he slapped his thigh with enthusiasm. “Shaala, do you realize that what we’ve discovered here could turn the war around overnight?”
Shaala shook her head. “You’ve lost me. What do you mean?”
“The people of the eastern lands are being used for Artaeis’ own ends,” Karn said. “They’re unwitting pawns. But if they found out the truth – if we told them – they would turn on Artaeis and then all the lands of the Greater Realms would be of one accord. We could unite against both Artaeis and the Angdar. All of us. Erahil. Ilara. Maharei. Valahir. Eresdrach. Ungvemhaast. Un’vari –”
“But how could we prove it, Karn?” Shaala asked. “Supposing we could find an audience with an Aracean commander, what would we tell him?” She shook her head. “We can’t do anything, Karn. We may be mages, you and I, but at the end of the day, we’re just two people.”
Karn was quiet for a few moments. Then he leaned forward and held Shaala’s hands. “If you come with me, I think I can find a way.”
“How?”
“Trust me.”
Shaala nodded. “All right.”
Another silence fell over them and they sat looking at each other, their hands still clasped.
Then Shaala leant forward and kissed Karn on the lips. Karn kissed her back, letting go of her hands and wrapping his arms around her. Then Shaala kissed him again and Karn closed his eyes, letting all his thoughts, anxieties and painful memories disappear, while the evening rain splashed against the windowpanes.