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. Seawater, rushing in from the Simon
Sea, now hid the scars of sundered lands. The two were
forced to halt and work to pay their passage on a crude raft,
run by a group of villainous-looking Ergothians, who had
been separated by the sea from their homeland to the west.
The Ergothians ambushed them outside of Caergoth,
demanded they hand over food and valuables. Nikol,
disguised as a knight, refused. A fight ensued that left no
one seriously injured, but gained Nikol the men's respect.
They eyed Michael's blue robes with sneering suspicion but
accepted Nikol's explanation that "her brother" had made a
vow to their dying mother to remain faithful to his goddess.
As it turned out, the Ergothians were basically honest
folk, made savage in their ways by the hardships they had
been forced to endure. Nikol, maintaining her disguise as a
knight, aided them in wiping out a band of goblins that had
been raiding their hovels. Michael showed them plants and
herbs they could use to supplement what had been a steady
diet of fish. In return, the Ergothians ferried them across
what they were calling "Newsea" and promised that they
would have a return voyage, should they care to come back.
Which they soon would, they promised, once they saw
what had become of Xak Tsaroth.
On the opposite shore, Michael and Nikol soon lost their
way, wandered in the mountains for weeks. No map was
trustworthy. The land had altered and shifted beyond
recognition. Roads that once led somewhere now wound up
nowhere - or worse
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