Scorcher had stopped, heaving with rage. Arula bit back the desire in her heart to fling open every door and window in this place. A good fight might help her work off some anger, but it wouldn't answer the question raging in her own mind. Why had Thunor left these people to suffer? Why had he failed to seal the gate? She closed her eyes and felt the pull of True Seeing. No--not now! She forced her senses to stay with her rather than stretch to seek the solution. Mine is not to question! Mine is only to serve! But something else kept digging at her, the fact that her purpose in this world was to serve the needs of others as well. She opened her eyes, her gaze resting on the whimpering lad. For him, she could do nothing. With the Thunder Hammer, she could heal the body, but not the mind.

"Very well," she said. "Tomorrow, at first light, I will go to the temple and see about closing this cursed gate myself."

"Rul, don't be foolish," Ham said. "With the shadows on the ruins, that could be dangerous even in daylight."

"I'm not suggesting you come with me, Ham," Arula said as she fixed a dark glare on him. She hoped he would heed her warning and stay out of this. The last thing she wanted to deal with was Ham dying on her account. She was far too fond of him. "I have a feeling Thunor wants me to do this, even if it is only so I can come to understand just why he abandoned this place."

The inn fell silent. Outside, a faint chattering of those angry creatures was carried on the wind. Arula closed her eyes once more. Outside, she could feel that there was death.

At the first crow of the cock, Arula slipped out of bed and into battle armor. Over her shirt and braes, she wore chainmail, and over that, the ankle length blue tunic split up the sides and trimmed in red. The Eye of True Seeing hung outside for all to see who she was. She slung her shield over one shoulder and carried the Thunder Hammer in her hand.

Arula could hear Ham's familiar snores rumbling as she passed his curtained niche. Good. She did not want him following. In fact, the only other soul awake at this hour turned out to be Aunt Nora. When Arula entered the tavern room, she found Aunt Nora busily setting the table for a meal.

"Will you eat before you go, Hammer Maid?" she said.

At first, Arula considered refusing, but Aunt Nora wore such a pleading smile, it was hard to say no. With a smile, Arula nodded, placing the Thunder Hammer on the table and settling into a chair. Aunt Nora studied the Thunder Hammer with a glow of respect and awe on her apple-round face.

"You're--she, aren't you?" Aunt Nora whispered.

"I am me and nothing more," Arula said.

Aunt Nora shook her head and smiled as she pushed honey, warm black bread and a pitcher of mead at Arula. The woman must have been up all night. for the bread was fresh baked.

"I have always been a follower of Thunor," Aunt Nora said wistfully. "When Hengst went mad and turned against Thunor, and I remembering being so afraid until I had a dream. Thunor came to me and told me not to weep. He said, as long as I believed, I would see the gate closed, for he would send his Hammer Maid to undo Hengst's evil. Thunor said I would know you when you came, for you would have the courage to face the evil alone, and you would carry a blessed hammer like his own that would have the power to break the black hammer of Helas."

Aunt Nora's eyes had grown misty as she twiddled with her apron hem. Arula closed her own eyes and let the True Seeing come. Her mind was flooded with a golden light that shimmered over Aunt Nora's head. In that light, Arula saw that the blessing of Thunor had been bestowed on this little woman for her simple faith. Perhaps, the god had not abandoned this place, so long as there was one whose faith and love remained so strong.

Slowly, Arula opened her eyes. "I will do what I can," she said with a smile.

Aunt Nora left her place quite suddenly, ambling over to a window. She pulled down one of the stick runes she had placed there and brought it back to Arula. The little woman's hands trembled as she offered the sticks to Arula.

"Wear this, please," Aunt Nora said. "I made it when the Black Priest came. Maybe it will help protect you from Hengst and his evil horde."

"Thank you," Arula said, draping the cotton cord about her neck and studying the form, a crude fashioning of Thunor's rune, tied with bits of red thread.

"Thunor will be with you, Hammer Maid," Aunt Nora said.

"Let us hope so, " Arula returned.

Dew wet the tangled path at Arula's feet as she wend her way up the hill. This path had not seen another's tread for a long time. Briars had taken over most of the trail. More than once, Arula was forced to hike her hem up to her knees to keep from snagging the wool.

Eventually, she reached the ruins. The wall around the main courtyard lay in rubble, though the arches of the gates stood fast. As soon as Arula passed under them, she felt a change in the air. Instead of warmth and welcome, an evil chill hung within these walls. The shadow of the mountain cast darkness across the ruins, blocking the light of the sun within its walls.

The temple stood before her like some fallen house. Much of the facade had been mutilated by a magical force. The roof was gone, and the windows bore no shutters. This place has not been abandoned--it'd been condemned. She could clearly see evidence of lightning strikes to the structure, leaving stones flung away and blackened.

Within the temple, she found the chamber shaped like a hammer. In its topmost end was a dais, and on that stood an altar. Arula squinted, but she was unable to make out the details in this unnatural gloom. The quiet was like a tomb she recalled, and Arula could feel the pulse of her own heart beating on her ears.

He tried to reclaim it, she told herself. Thunor would never have abandoned this temple without a reason. She let her senses reach out, seeking some glimmer to reassure her that Thunor was there. The ends of the hammer-shaped nave let off a faint, familiar glow, but it was weak in the face of the evil that shrouded the air.

Then she heard a sort of skitter in darker corners. Arula turned slowly, but could see nothing except inky shadows that might or might not be moving. Something stirred there, she was sure. As certain as something stirred in one of the alcoves still covered by a portion of roofing. There was magic in the air, tainted by the dark power that spawned it. Arula closed her eyes, allowing the Eye to seek what her own could not see.