Role

Chapter 14

The Eye gone, back at the Fotress, Ageryn sought counsel from the priest,
Eylar. One of his most trusted men, and one in tune with things of the
spirit, perhaps Eylar could cleanse him of the lingering taint he felt
within him. A memory of the thing that had inhabited his body? Or
something else?

As it turns out, something else. As soon as Eylar began his reverie, a
baleful hiss issued forth as if from the shadows themselves. The Eye had
not gone at all, in fact, but was driven out by the paladin's prayers.
None too happy at this, it cursed Eylar, and vowed that its business with
Ageryn was not finished.

Could he endure another visit? Would this next one be the occasion on
which his will finally broke, and he gave in to his desire to learn of his
sister's whereabouts? Ageryn was an old man, but his health had been
sustained in part by the orb itself. Andanu, if she still lived, would be
older still, and perhaps long for this earth. If he was ever to reuinte
with her it would have to be soon. The Eye, he suspected, knew this.

He needed more than Eylar's prayers; he needed his own. Ageryn needed
strength beyond what he himself was capable of summoning. He would draw
it from the generations of Maran who walked the Fortress walls before him.
He would draw it from the cause to which they gave their lives. He would
draw it from the example of him who led them, in those dark, early days.

Ageryn would call upon the Phoenix.