Chapter Four
The Fortress On The White River
Belloc's mind was a battleground of perplexities and implications. His dearth of knowledge in the face of new facts deeply troubled his heart, for he was no longer young and able to dedicate decades of his life learning the ways of this New World, sprung startlingly and unexpectedly from the Old, and the unlooked-for and unknown circumstances it presented. He felt keenly that time itself had served to dispossess him from a world he thought himself long familiar, and he could not help but wish he were a younger man, or that Anest was older and experienced enough to shoulder his burdens.
With a conscious effort of will he turned his attentions to the matters at hand. The burned-out stave of the Warlock was perhaps more cause for concern than the demise of the Demon, though how the Demon had managed to survive the light of day was also cause for grave concern.
The Warlock's stave, along with its blue stone, was now blackened and broken, its wielder likewise charred and smoking. The wizard endured the stench, hoping for answers, though he was conscious that the others were waiting for him impatiently, eager to be away from this place of evil and killing. Anest, he saw, was consumed with Lily's emotional plight. She seemed badly shaken, evidently because she'd had a direct encounter with the Demon. With a sigh, seeing that his young apprentice's emotional distress was making him more hindrance than help, Belloc summoned Anest with a gesture.