Chapter 26 The Dying Woman
Beret sat beside the shop keeper who kept holding his wife’s pale hand. The woman was in a constant state of delirium and would mutter incoherent sentences from time to time. The shop keeper appeared to be in agony over what to do for his wife. Beret had to stay calm and strong for them both. So he stayed by their side as he watched them helplessly.
He thought of Misara and wondered what they would discover at this Temple of Balkir. She seemed to be in better spirits lately. Perhaps investigating this temple would do her some good and maybe get her to finally move beyond the events in Hedak, Beret thought.
Looking around, he could not seem to find Revik anywhere. Aisha appeared to be in search of him as well. Revik did not seem too concerned about what was happening. But this did not surprise Beret. They had grown used to Revik’s brooding. Maybe the wizard had other things on his mind, he thought.
Then the woman suddenly began to speak another string of sentences which Beret expected would make no sense. But to his surprise, the woman seemed lucid this time.
“Balkir is the way…” The woman began. “We must follow him so that we may be saved from this plague...”
Beret considered her words. Was this what the followers of Balkir were told? Beret wondered.
“War is coming… Despair will blanket the world…” The woman said before falling silent once more.
The shop keeper appeared to pay her words no heed. Instead, he just kept saying to her, “I am here. I am not leaving you.”
The woman’s words made Beret recall the prophecy that Master Ladris had told them before he was killed. But why would this woman speak of these things in her delirious state? What is the connection between this plague, the temple and the prophecy? Beret’s confusion grew as these questions circled in his mind.