I raised my hands and they fell into silence. " I intend no harm or foul thing. I just want to talk and see what keeps you here." After a moment one of them spoke. "I am Garishe. I was once the leader of this people. Before we tell you what happened I want to know something. What would you do once we told you?" Garish was a fairly large shadow for a dwarf. He stood at about 5 feet or so. I looked at him. "I would seek to resolve your grudges. If you wish to remain, I won't stop you. If you wish to dissapear and be able to truly die that is also fine. Or you can choose to follow me. But it's completely up to you." There was a cacophony of whispering followed by a shus.h.i.+ng. It was some time till I got a response.

" If you can get Hargo's certificate we will follow you. The men of the village will follow you to get our revenge. Our women and children need rest though. If you would willingly let them pa.s.s into the cycle of life and death we would be ever grateful. Even if you can't get the certificate please let them rest." He gestured toward a part of the inn. It was filled with smaller figures that were weeping in fear and confusion.

I felt anger rush through me in a quick wave that pa.s.sed. "Who did this to all of you?" I asked slowly keeping my head level and cold. Anger is useless when facing anything but the the one intended to be released on. Garish turned to me. "There was a merchant who had many wares. Strange and exotic ones. We were originally wary of him. After a few months of knowing him we relaxed our guard. It was then that he acted. He lured us all to the center of the town saying he wanted to give us the show of the century. What he gave us was misery and destruction. He unleashed the ghost flames on us in hope's of refining us into a shadow soul for his use." He paused and shuddered. I raised my hand quickly to question him. " What is a shadow soul?" Garish began to explain. "Souls are ranked like monsters except we do so by color. The darker the soul, the more hatred and energy it possesses. The ranks go from white, light grey, grey, dark grey, and finally black Black is the color of a shadow soul. For they are the same color. If one is able to absorb a shadow soul they will gain extended life force and power. The Merchant sought to focus the hatred of all of our citizens to make a single shadow soul for him to consume and gain power from. He nearly succeeded. The only being in our village with enough knowledge and soul power to withstand the flames was Hargo. He captured the flames and forced them into one of his hearths. He's been there for over 20 years searching for someone to take it from him so he can finally rest."

Garish shook his head sadly. " Unfortunately none have ever survived the flames onslaught." He fell silent. After some time of thinking I slowly lifted my hand and a small green/grey flame began to dance in my palm. It was the size of a candles fire. It danced about my palm and slowly wove through my fingers spreading into a line like a serpent. Garish slowly lifted his head and noticed me playing with the flames. He was shocked for a moment or two. " How did you get that? Did you already get Hargo's certificate!?" He began to badger me with questions.

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" Calm yourself. Hargo is still at his smithy. We just came to rest the night. I will be seeing him tomorrow about that certificate of his." With that Garish calmed down. He turned to the window. "It is midnight....the living one needs sleep. Brothers.... let's guard him till dawn so he can rest. No doubt that he has had a long day if he had to deal with the ghost fire." The ghosts began to gather around the halls and merged with the walls. Everything turned black and stayed that way till the sun rose. When the morning came I woke to find the light s.h.i.+ning through the windows of the decrepit in. The walls were so bare and covered in spider webs. The place was fairly run down after all these years. I stretched. " Yawn. Well..... time to get Sam up and see the blacksmith." I went into the room I had put Sam to suddenly find a bareback facing me.

" Eeeek!" Sam screamed as she covered herself further with a blanket to avoid revealing anything furher. "Sorry!" I shouted as I quickly backed out of the room and shut the door. I felt my face flush and I knelt on the floor next to her door till she came out."

(Why is it I find all the wierd situations?) I thought.