Temple 27

**Chapter 27**

Richard is marching down the street, accompanied by a bunch of soldiers and Raina. He's constantly being cheered, thanked, and prayed to by the dumb stupid common soldiers, who consider him a mighty wizard for curing their diarrhea. Apparently none of them know the first thing about herbal medicine. There's a bit of nonsense about how magic demands balance, such as Richard no longer eating meat because of all the killing he has to do, and it still makes no sense.

We learn that Richard has two little bags of sorcerer's sand on his person at all times, one black and one white. The white is *"distilled magic,"* while the black can counter the white and is fantastically rare and valuable.

Richard eventually reaches the Latherton Rooming House, former home of the now-dead Rose. He questions Silas Latherton, and his one remaining whore, Bridget - all the others having left for obvious reasons. They declare that the murderer could only have been Fat Harry, a mean drunk whom none of the girls but Rose would tolerate. Richard wants to talk with him, but Silas says he's dead, with the implication that it was Silas who killed him.

The topic shifts to Drefan, and after a half-page of Komical Misunderstandings, Richard learns that Drefan never, ah, took advantage of any of the girls, but merely volunteered his services as a healer. Bridget says that not many healers want to waste their time on whores, so Drefan's skills were greatly appreciated. She even offered to sleep with him, no charge, but he turned her down.

Cut to Richard entering Drefan's room, where he finds Drefan kneeling and praying for *"the soul of a woman no one cared about."* This, of course, is Rose. Richard and Drefan have a nice, brotherly chat, where we learn that Drefan helps whores because his mother was a whore. They talk about family, we're reminded that everyone still thinks Zedd is dead, and it's actually not terrible.

Richard asks Drefan about being the High Priest of the Raug-apostrophe-Moss, and that title still makes no darn sense. Drefan exposits in Olden Times, they were an order of magical healers. As the talent for healing became more and more rare, the wizards decided to take on ungifted scum commoner apprentices. Eventually, the last wizard died and the modern Raug'Moss are all ungifted healers.

Drefan asks what Richard's talent is, and Richard says he's a war wizard. He says he *"was pretty distraught by that, at first, but since then I've come to understand that being a war wizard means that I have been born to help others, by protecting them from those who would enslave them."* Which has nothing to do with the definition of "war wizard" we were told earlier, but hey! It sure makes Richard sound good, doesn't it? \~/

Also, try saying that aloud exactly as it's written, punctuation and all.

Richard and Drefan agree that sometimes the most merciful thing one can do is to kill someone, either someone who is in horrible pain with no hope of relief, or someone who will themselves cause pain to others.

Suddenly, Nadine pops in demanding that Richard come with her, saying there's someone who desperately needs to see him. With Raina and Drefan in tow, Richard follows her.

Drinks: 1

<Previous Chapter  -  Next Chapter>