Ozerk's Revenge

Date: Spring 1201

When the magi returned from the tournament at Ungulus, Godwyn greeted them at the entry to the great hall. He was leaning on a staff in his left hand and obviously in pain. Godwyn doesn't normally carry a staff, and he's not left-handed. "Sodales, much has happened while you were away. Let us hold a council meeting after supper. Until then, come, let us be merry! Tell me of the tournament."

At supper, Ozerk was not present. When Argus inquired as to his whereabouts, Merewen replied gravely, "That is one of the things we will speak of at the council meeting."

The magi then had a lively homecoming feast, telling of the deeds they had done and seen at the tournament. Only later, after the trenchers had been cleared from the table and the wine goblets had been refilled with water, did Godwyn speak of what had transpired while the others had been away.

The Tapestry Door

"Sodales, our friend Ozerk is dead," Godwyn began. "He died in battle against an enemy of Stranggore: I saw it with my own eyes. Paul saw it, too. Please allow me to tell the tale from the beginning."

"A few days after you departed for Ungulus," Godwyn continued, "I noticed I had not seen Ozerk for a few days. So I inquired with the cook and the chambermaid, who said he had been served no meals, either in the kitchen or in his chambers. Then I took it upon myself" -- here an observant listener would notice him shoot a quick, involuntary glance at Agnes -- "to knock on his sanctum door. There was no answer, and as you know, Ozerk has never fully recovered from his long years of imprisonment in the ruins of Rosalba. I feared he had slipped back into an addled state and wandered off, or perhaps slipped into Twilight. So I opened his sanctum door to check on his well-being. I found only this."

Godwyn drew a sealed envelope from his sleeve and lay it on the table in front of Argus. Written on the front of the envelope, in Ozerk's hand, were the words "to be opened in the event of my death."

"Let us read that together when I reach the end of my tale," Godwyn said.

After a pause, he continued. "I asked the grogs and covenfolk if they has seen Ozerk leave the covenant. They had not. So I assumed my heart-shape and tracked him by scent. It was not hard: the scent of the Gift is strong, and unnerving to beasts. As I had already surmised, a clear scent-trail led from Ozerk's quarters to Astia's sanctum."

"There, I found a tapestry drawn aside and behind it, a tunnel. Clearly, it was an enchanted portal. I fetched Paul and what grogs I could find: Thomas and Randolph. The four of us set forth promptly, for I still feared Ozerk had addled wits and was in some danger."

Finding Ozerk

"The was cramped and led to a small cave exit, opening on a grassy hillside strewn with boulders and tussocks of heather. The country resembled the North of England, perhaps not far from the Yorkshire Dales where I was apprenticed. There was a wood in the valley below the hill, and I could see a large timber hall on the next hilltop with a village of rude huts down below it."

"We followed Ozerk's trail down to the valley floor and into the wood, where we found him, whole and completely lucid. I asked him why he had come through the enchanted portal alone without leaving word of his departure, and he answered that he had come to take revenge on the one who had cursed and imprisoned him for many years: Thurisaz, filius Flumen, former magus of Blackthorn."