A few nights into the camp east of Nodden-Torr. Alexis waits until the four of them are looking at him.
“Shasherak. Drayek. And Deragoth.”
“I’m not sure you remember what Drayek’s temple in the Westlands told us. One stretch of that carving was still readable. It recorded an alliance between Drayek’s cult and a power it called Shasherak.”
“The exact agreement was lost to disturbance and time, other than one of them was owed something.”
“There was newer carving on the same wall: ‘The Hand that Reaches, the Crown that Binds, the Blood that Wakes the Fallen.'”
“I took that as a prophesy. I think it’s a reply. Somebody read what I read and wrote underneath it what they mean to do.”
“Avv gave it back to me in a dream. Not all three of it. Just one line. ‘The Blood that Wakes the Fallen. You must stop him.'” Alexis squints his eyes. “Him.”
“The Hand we’ve had our hands on for a couple years now. The blood I can name. The crown…” Alexis asks the question “Ædelfred?”
The fire crackles.
“And Deragoth. He was Shasherak’s. The stories give him cursed armor made out of the skin of the enemies he killed. The armor Ezrin probably wears now.”
Rask is confused and then mutters quietly,
“The Dark Hand, the Raidensblud and Aedelfrid?”
Then clearly, “Your not talking about objects are you boss? The other two make sense to me but Aedelfrid doesn’t feel right. Vorgoth called Raiden the last True King. Aedelfrid is no Raiden… the Dark Hand kidnapped his Bride before we were born though…”
Rask looks less sure of himself,
“It’s not the crown from the Hammer and Crown is it?”
Alexis looks at Rask.
“Not objects. Steps.” He holds up a finger. “The Hand that Reaches. The Dark Hand has more reach than we knew when the Crimson Calling was formed. That’s not a guess anymore.” A second finger. “The Crown that Binds. Ædelfred. He’s trying to bring all of humanity under his crown. A crown Vorgoth didn’t deem ‘real’.” A third finger. “Blood magic to bring back someone who has fallen.”
He lowers his hand.
“Shasherak. Ath. Drayek. Pick one.” He shrugs. “But someone read that wall and wrote underneath it what they intended to do. A plan that’s been in motion for quite some time.”
Alexis looks a little worried.
Rask nods appreciatively.
“Got it. Do you think it is done or can we still stop it?”
“In the Westlands Avv was counting on us to stop it.”
“We’ve still got to do it. We’ve still got to stop Bandesingh!”
Rask looks at Alexis a bit sadly, and shares a determined, if rather sympathetic, smile.
“Whether it’s Bandesing or Sasherak or both, or a whole team that includes Ath and Drayek, I’m with you to the end Alexis.”
“Praise Raiden! For Humanity!”