The Cauldron, my new home since Willard banished Salithius from it last year. It’s location, a few miles south-east of Sweetwater Island, is obscure enough to keep unwanted visitors to a minimum and has afforded my friends and I ample opportunity to reflect on our recent adventures and prepare for future excitement.
As it so happens, I was enjoying the company of Tara, a lovely lady who I brought with me from Quashie. Six months have passed without incident. The Cauldron and Quashie have been my alternate party spots and life was quiet and fun, a needed change from the previous few years.
Willard telepathically contacts me during a very inopportune moment, telling me that Salithius has gone too far this time and must be dealt with, at Mother Jana’s insistance. Apparently I am to take care of Sal permanently.
I ask if this has been cleared by Servants of the Order of Conscious Influence. It has not, but Willard says he will explain everything to The Order, and that I shouldn’t worry about it. Secrecy is probably for the best, in case someone in The Order is still loyal to Sal.
Willard tells me to contact him if I need anything but then he also tells me not to. I know what he means. Amy, he tells me, is currently in Sweetwater and that she knows about the Salithius situation and that she will be able to help. And then, our telepathic connection is gone.
Salithius is both powerful and unpredictable. He must have done something really bad to have Willard want him dead without first clearing it with The Order. I’ll have to find Abby and Jon right after I get a hold of Amy. We’ve all been on vacation far too long and I feel both anxious and rusty at the prospect of facing Sal again. This will be interesting.
I send for Amy and we have a brief telepathic chat even though we are hundreds of miles apart. It’s good to hear her voice for the first time in over a month. She verifies everything that Willard just told me. Salithius has definitely gone too far this time, cruelly sentencing an entire town to death for his own amusement. Amy should have told me the severity of this problem when we last spoke, or maybe I should have listened better. I tell her to expect to see me later this night when I come to collect her. We say goodbye and my mind soon bends towards locating Abby, Jon and Linnfard.
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