She's been there about three months when a rider arrives from a Mendevian fort to the east. They were besieged by demons; rescue was summoned eventually, but more than half the fort's defenders are dead. They're hoping that someone else along the line can spare some men. (He says that, but not like someone who is really hoping, not much).

But Samora's fort is in fact doing very well right now. Fifth circle clerics you weren't expecting to have are fantastic, and they've suffered almost no casualties in the last three months. Two flus were stopped in their tracks, three timely Breath of Life spells meant that the last siege of the fort was repelled with no deaths, and two wizards hit third circle. The new batch of recruits has trained up well and has more men signing on to another year than usual. 

Her commander would send her over without hesitation, except there are some guidelines about placing paladins under the command of Mendevians.  

The guidelines are 'don't'. Samora is a cleric but many of the reasons still apply. 

Would the Mendevians accept a small group of Lastwall soldiers including a fifth circle cleric, under the command of a Lastwall officer who will provide assistance to the fort's defenders while answering to Crusaders'?

The Mendevians would rather have this than nothing. They accept. 

Samora is glad she doesn't have to change commanding officers; she's heard that Mendevians aren't as good at allocating their resources, and while she'll obey any lawful orders from whoever she's assigned to it's much more pleasant to be confident that she's being used well. She says goodbye to the dozen closest friends she's made, packs up the half-dozen possessions she doesn't wear constantly, and goes.

Fort Halses is named for a great hero of the First Crusade, who is said to have fallen somewhere near here. Sometimes people claim his helpful ghost still comes to their aid. It is bigger than the fort they departed from, but has a third as many men, and every last one of them looks dead on his feet. The ground was too frozen to bury the dead after the catastrophic attack, and there wasn't enough wood to spare to burn them, so they piled the bodies up in a cellar from which the groans and screams of the risen dead can now be heard.  

The guards scan them tiredly for Evil and then let them in.

Oh dear. She's not surprised by these people's ability to stay on their feet doing their jobs through all that, but she doesn't have to be surprised to be impressed. Is there anything more immediately urgent than clearing out the cellar and getting everyone put to rest? If they still can't burn or bury them she can prepare a bunch of copies of Sanctify Corpse and build cairns of stones over them and say the ordinary funeral prayers. Was anyone among the dead both important enough to Raise and Gentle Reposed in time and still in need of it?

"Can't be done if the demon tore their head off, right?"

"I'm afraid not. I'm sorry."

"That's what I figured. So...no."

"Alright. I'll do the cellar tomorrow morning. What's the routine spellcasting situation like? Do you have enough Endure Elements to go around or should I be picking up slack there? Anyone need a Remove Disease and hasn't gotten one?"

"We've got enough Endure Elements as long as people patrol for the whole length of it rather than wasting any. Most people are sick but I don't think anyone's about to die of it. The priests channel before dawn, if they've got anything left over, in the big hall."

"I have a Remove Disease today for whoever's worst off, and can fit in another tomorrow and still be alright for patrolling and on-call."

"Right, then, I'll try to figure who that is." And he trots off to the barracks and returns with a man who looks more than the half-dead the rest of them look. "Radya, there's a priest, look -"

     Radya attempts some kind of deferential gesture he doesn't have the inner ear balance for.

She could have walked to their sickroom instead of them making this poor fellow come out here. She's not a paladin but her fortitude is alright. No matter. "Remove Disease. I'm Samora, pleased to meet you."

"Goddess g'with you," he says hoarsely, and tries the gesture a little better. 

"They need help in the stables," Mikhayl says encouragingly to him, prodding him slightly in the right direction. 

"And here I thought 'was gonna get out of work, being dead."

"That's no excuse!"

Oh dear. She is so glad she's here and not back at the previous fort ignorant of how much help they need here. Too bad she has more questions before she can offer to go help in the stables with a clear conscience.

"Do you have a rough count of people in the cellar?" she asks Mikhayl. "I can use some second-circle slots for Communal Endures tomorrow and unjam the patrol schedule, and once I'm not filling my firsts with Sanctify Corpse it'll be more straightforward."

"I think twenty? 'round that, anyway."

"Better split the basement across two days, then. Or skip the Sanctifies and bet on convincing them not to try again, which usually works alright."

"You'd know more than me, priest, but if we don't lay them to rest they can't get on to Heaven, right? And I wouldn't want to make them wait."

"Neither would I. I expect I can get it all done tomorrow. How many clerics does this fort have right now, and are you the person coordinating them or should I speak to someone else there? And of course I'll need to get slotted into the patrol schedule." Hopefully starting tomorrow evening in case the exorcisms take all day, but if they need her in it asap she'll figure something out.

"There's Senna, Harvas, Radovich, and then some kids that got picked up during the siege. Senna's in charge, but no one but me speaks any Taldane."

"I have Truespeech; is Senna presently available or should I make an appointment?"

"Like the angels? Wow. I can show you to her office."

And he trudges up some stairs and through some heavy doors into the part of this fortress where a Forbiddance was laid, where he knocks on a door. "Senna? It worked, they came back with some help, there's a priest here to meet you."

The woman who comes to the door is much older than Samora and wearing as good a Wisdom headband and looks very tired. "Oh, that's wonderful news," she says. "'m Senna, and I've been running the fortress, since Ruvatch was killed. Which fort're you from?"