Thilos finished up his story with, “and you know the rest.” By that he meant I knew what had happened once he arrived at my place, which was true, so I nodded. I was trying to nod wisely, but I was a little tipsy so I might have just looked drunk. Who knows. I did ask him if he had a plan for what to do next.

“I guess I do,” he told me. “I plan on going to Aandarvi, where the King’s Warders have our Headquarters, and so do the High Mages’ Council and the Knights of Anathar. Hopefully, I can convince someone important there to look into this.” Then he looked a little embarrassed, “Can I borrow some clothes and money for the trip?”

I nodded like it was no big deal, borrowing enough money to travel the entire length of Mindolo. Then I raised a hand to let him know I needed a few moments to think. I mean, I'm sitting there with Thilos in my place, the straightest arrow I know, and my oldest friend, telling me this crazy sounding story about how the world could end and he's got to try to save it, but he needs help. My help.

To be honest I wasn't sure if I believed he had run afoul of the Kathaldi, twice. First off, were there even any Kathaldi left around? Nobody has seen or heard of them for four hundred years! Second, if they really were Kathaldi how did Thilos survive? They are supposed to be insanely good fighters! I knew he had that magic, stone sword but it isn't like it's the most powerful sword in the world, is it? I thought it just wouldn't break and could therefore pierce anything. Maybe there’s more to that sword than I know about…

Regardless, I did believe that something was up and that my oldest friend in the world needed my help. Unfortunately, my help would not be nearly enough. I would need some help from a few of my other friends. I sighed, quietly I am sure, and not at all theatrically like I am sometimes accused of doing. “Don’t you worry, I’ll bring enough money for the trip, but we had better get going.”

I enjoyed the look of confusion and then surprise on his face. “Going? What? Now? And you’re coming with me?”

“Of course I am. You aren’t going off heroing without me. The ladies are going to love me even more as a hero.” I was totally right about that, by the way. Not that I had any trouble before. But if you really want to impress the ladies you should totally save the world. They eat that up.

Thilos visibly relaxed, “Thank you. But I would rather not go anywhere tonight. I am exhausted, the warders are looking for me, and probably the city guard as well. I have had enough adventure for one day. We should wait until tomorrow.” He slumped back in his chair, as if he was planning to go to sleep right then and there.

“Thilos! We can’t wait until the morning. You told your warder boss that Garrick is the one who figured it all out about the Kathaldi, right? So, if they are the Kathaldi and they want that little secret kept what do you think they are going to do? I’ll tell you. They need to shut him up as soon as possible before he tells anyone else, or at least only a few people. There might just be a fire that destroys the entire village, or a pretend drant attack. We need to beat them to Lantora, so we need to move right now!”

Thilos had already jumped up before I finished speaking, obviously moved by the brilliance of my argument. “But with you exhausted and me only being one man I think we’ll stop along the way and pick up a little muscle.” I smiled cruelly at the thought of my friend Enick up against a bunch of Kathaldi, “I know just the guy, come on. Let’s move!” I had Thilos change out of his warder greys into some fairly non-descript clothes that I happened to have just lying around and we gathered up some things I thought we might need on the trip, then off we went to find Enick.