"So it appears. It would explain the open gate." Qoh walked around his friend into the main cavern. His phosphorescent light offered little comfort in the expanse. The priest knelt and touched the earth. "Only dust and death wait for us in Thsoling."
"What happened?" When Rham last visited the young freehold it had been bustling with activity. Twenty or thirty families were hard at work shaping the cavern and readying the earth for crop. Their light shone bright.
Qoh stood and brushed the dust from his hands. "What ever happens? The Other despises the Light of the Child as much as it longs for it. The stink of the shadows is heavy." He left the cavern, but Rham didn't follow. Qoh half turned. "Come."
The warrior shook his head and followed. Ghosts of the past still lingered in his mind's eye.
"We must make for Haa," the priest began. "It'll be difficult without the food we were going to obtain here, but the Light will guide us."
"Someone should be told."
Qoh bobbed his head. "Good thought. Tonight I will call an elemental. Perhaps it can confirm what happened here. It will need convincing to travel to Avis Abeh though."
