"She might be there, or hiding in some dark corner... But she clearly isn't coming back for us." Lann is torn between feeling betrayed and guilty. Running away from this nabasu was apparently the right thing to do, except that Wenduag couldn't have known that; abandoning your friends and allies in a fight is horrible, but he wouldn't want Wendu to risk her life just to come back for his corpse, if she somehow convinced herself they were all dead...

"If we go back we can warn them about that nabasu!"

"And we need to make sure she didn't get into any more trouble. Let's go."

He really wants to find the missing younglings, but they've been missing for many hours; Wenduag only has a few minutes' lead. It makes sense to go after her, even though she can generally take care of herself.

They retrace their steps without meeting anyone else.

The crowd of neathers at the entrance to the Maze has grown large; a hundred or more are now present. At the crowd's center Chief Sull is debriefing and/or berating an angry Wenduag.

"Wendu! What happened? Do you have any idea how worried we were?!"

"How are you still alive?!" she blurts.

It's ridiculous to imagine that they beat Savamelekh. Are they all working for him now, even the paladin? Did he enchant them? It seems just as ridiculous to imagine that Savamelekh, incensed by Hosilla's death, wouldn't kill and hurt at least a few before sending the cowed remainder to do his bidding.

Wenduag has no idea what's going on and she is terrified. It feels like any moment, the darkness will spill out of the door behind them -

No, no, Savamelekh wants the tribes, he doesn't want to kill them or he would have -

But then why let go the interlopers who promised to bring the tribes to the surface -

The only thing she knows to use to overcome her fear is anger, but she doesn't dare be angry at possible servants of Savamelekh and what remains is anger at everyone else, and the universe, and maybe herself for being too weak.

"She ran back out a few minutesh ago, confushed, talking about the darknesh - she shaid the darknesh took you all, and she ran. And she could not explain more." Sull hates shaming Wenduag in public like that, but everyone except the returning party already knows.

Seelah frowns. "Maybe she was magically afraid? That's no shame, powerful demons have fear auras."

No, you dolt, she was mundanely and perfectly rationally afraid, but she can't say this.

Wenduag doesn't know how to act ashamed or contrite. She has an excellent understanding of feeling weak and acting it out in groveling, but groveling before Chief Sull, or before Malenia in Sull's presence, is unlikely to help. (She'll still grovel later, in private, if it seems indicated.)

"I failed you," she says simply, and bows her head.

"You were afraid. You were right to be afraid, whatever it was, it was very powerful and deadly. It was close to killing all of us."

"But," he raises his hand, flaring the Light of Heaven, "Lariel's Light saved us, and chased the demon off."

Did it? Or is that just what they want her to pretend in public?

She can imagine Savamelekh cowing and coercing them all, but not in the span of a few minutes. It has to be magic, an enchantment, but she doesn't understand why he'd do that -

Shiiine.

The Light of Heaven doesn't descend in a bolt of lightning anymore. It doesn't grant power or sound a call to arms; it won't chastise the unfaithful and scourge the wicked.

But it speaks to every heart that wants to stand against Evil and cannot find the courage. Everyone who cowers alone in the darkness, who shies away from their own desires for distant unattainable Good while Evil is right here holding a knife to your throat.

You are not alone, it whispers. Help others, and you will be helped. Together, you are stronger. Together, you can stand against the darkness.

I gave myself for you. I would do it again. I will always be by your side.

"Let's go, Wenduag. We still have to find the kids."

She ought to be terrified of what Malenia might do to her once they're alone, but the light stole that option from her.

She doesn't know what else she can say or do.

She follows.

"Are you alright?" Lann asks her quietly. He really wants to ask "would you rather stay behind," but Wenduag takes offence at any suggestion she's weak or a liability and it only gets worse when there's a reason to suspect it's actually true.

...

"I'm fine. Save your worry for the kids." What else is she going to say? No, she's absolutely not fine, please escort her back to the camp again? But she can't even find the energy for a sarcastic reply.

The first door they hadn't opened before before leads to a small room full of bookshelves.

The second door reveals stairs down into a flooded basement; they can wade through the water but it makes stealth hard. There's another door (locked), a room with a large water elemental that ignores them as long as they don't approach it (and doesn't respond to speech), and finally - at the end of a short corridor - two barred cells, one of which contains the three missing neather kids.

Oh thank the gods, Lann was so worried! He could ignore it as long as he was doing something to find them but now it all rushes back, and into hugs (through the bars) and tears and angry-but-relieved demands of "what the Abyss were you thinking?!"

"Oh good," Anevia deadpans, "I'm useful to the party after all!" She sets to picking open the lock.

They were thinking they'd go up to the surface and become real crusaders and work for paladins and get to fight demons, instead of Chief Sull who thinks 'underground crusaders' should just live and die underground without ever doing anything!

Only they found the demons before they found the crusaders, and they were so terrified (until like a minute ago), and they're very very sorry and will definitely never do it again!! Because Lann will help them do it right next time, please, they'll be such good crusaders?

"You should be safe now. Do you know if there's anyone else here?"

They didn't see any more neathers but there were a lot of those humans who locked them in! They could hear them running and shouting about something just a few minutes ago.

"I can pick the remaining door's lock. Back me up if it goes wrong?"