"Fred, I`ve learned important things." Kumbanaka spoke, jerking Fred from his afternoon& slumber?

　　"Whatcha got?"

　　"The human fighter`s name is Val Vondoreiin, a minor knight from a minor family. He`s very personable, and every one of the humans wanted to talk to him, so it wasn`t hard for me to approach and ingratiate myself."

　　"But what about the sword?" Fred asked impatiently.

　　"I was getting there, Spirit. The sword is apparently an Orichalcum alloy, and it had been blessed with a Blessing of Sharpness, less than a month ago."

　　"Why does the month matter?"

　　Martin butted into the conversation, saying, "These human blessings fade over time. They fade quickly. I`m not sure if the humans are poor casters, or if their gods want them to keep coming back for blessings. Either way, such a blessing would completely fade after about six months."

　　"Okay," Fred said. "What else?"

　　"Well, Val said his previous sword was also quite nice, a unique custom-made weapon created for him by a famous smith. Until he lost it to you. He`s still quite salty about that, and the fact that you`ve copied it many times now. I`d wager that the smith he used won`t be happy to hear about the copies either." Kumbanaka said.

　　"Tough. I got that sword fair and square, and as far as I`m concerned, everyone can have one. What else?"

　　"Hah. That`s right, stand your ground, Spirit! So, Val almost died last night. So did a lot of the humans. The smoke from the demon was profoundly corrosive to the lungs, and eyes. The humans agree that, if you didn`t have the temple, the Priestess Sharfroen, and the tree`s magic all working together, Val would never have fought again, even if he survived."

　　"Well that sucks. Hey, Martin has a powerful breath weapon, but we saw some knights who had cloth over their faces, and weren`t bothered." Fred remembered.

　　"When was this?" queried Kumbanaka.

　　"It doesn`t matter. Those wretched humans are gone, for now, and I made them bleed for their aggression." Martin said quickly.

　　"Could the humans use that cloth for the demon smoke?" Fred asked excitedly.

　　"I suppose it`s worth a try. But dragons` breath is nothing like demon blood, really." Martin replied.

　　"Okay. So, can I get his sword? I mean the new one that stabbed the demon?" Fred asked.

　　"No, it`s missing. The scene last night was quite chaotic. No one knows what happened to it after the demon exploded," Kumbanaka replied.

　　"Crap. Crap crap. I coulda made hundreds of them."

　　"That can`t be the only Orichalcum sword the humans have. I could find another, and bring it back to you. I`ll wager I could even get it blessed."

　　"Kumbanaka, you are awesome!" Fred nearly shouted. "Yes, please do that for me."

　　"I will see it done as soon as possible." Kumbanaka said.

　　The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

　　To Fred, Martin said, "You know he`s going to eat whatever human he gets that sword from. Are you allowing that now?"

　　Fred replied, "I don`t know that. And you don`t either."

　　"Fred, be reasonable. A rakshasa has needs. It`s built in to his nature."

　　To both of them, Fred nearly shouted, "Hey Kumbanaka. I`ll give you some gold. Don`t steal the sword or kill anybody for it, okay?"

　　"I knew you would reimburse me, Fred. And I wasn`t going to break your rules. No matter what Martin says."

　　"Humph," Martin grumped.

　　That would have been another discussion ruined by Martin. Fred was fully prepared to stew about it for hours. But then he remembered. "Priestess& Sharfroen? Is that her name? The priestess in the temple?"

　　"Yes, that`s what they call her." Kumbanaka replied.

　　"Can you tell me more about her?"

　　"I don`t know much more than that. She only just showed up, and for obvious reasons, everyone loves her. Do you want me to find out more?"

　　"Yes, please."

　　"All right, but I`ll not get too close. Her eyes are entirely too sharp for my comfort." Kumbanaka replied.

　　About an hour later, Fred was watching the Black Mamba mapping the Cave Zone, when he noticed a large group of humans battling the ogre. He saw that they`d already dispatched the man-bat, and now they had the ogre on the ropes, too. It swung its big new stone club a few more times before it was riddled with arrows and taken down. Then the group proceeded into the area with the six elemental drakes. "I wonder which drake they`ll attack first? Do they even know?" Fred wondered.

　　They did seem to know. They moved purposefully to the lair with the water drake. There they stepped into the room, where the drake was almost fully submerged in its little pool. But as soon as the first caster threw a spell at the drake, it was in motion. It heaved itself up so quickly, the water in the pool seemed to leap forward like a battering ram. Many of the humans were knocked off their feet. A couple of them were slammed back all the way into the hall outside the lair. "Wow!" Fred exclaimed.

　　The drake didn`t waste its opportunity. It leapt forward, knocking a couple of fighters aside with its wings while it grabbed a magic caster in its jaws. Then it leapt back, running towards the back of its lair, while shaking the human like a dog with a big bone. The humans were a bit disorganized and surprised, but as they figured out what was happening, they gave chase to the drake, which continued to scuttle away along the perimeter of the room.

　　Soon the drake was leading a trail of running humans in a big line around the central pool. It would have been comical if not for the life and death stakes. The human carried by the drake was unconscious or dead, and wasn`t that small of a man, but the powerful drake carried him like a stuffed toy. Magic spells zipped towards the drake, who dodged them all handily. Finally a couple of sword-wielders got wise to the chase and circled the other way, approaching the drake from the front.

　　This made the drake turn right and dash into the central pool (which now only had a small amount of water left inside it). It dropped the human into the water and continued out the other side of the bowl. This left it able to rush towards a couple of huffing and panting berobed humans, and it looked like it was about to repeat its grab-and-run scheme. But one of the humans threw fire at it, and the drake was suddenly engulfed in magic flames.

　　It shrieked, obviously in great pain, and spun around. It then leapt back into the pool, rolling around in the shallow water, trying to escape the flames. That tumult allowed all the humans to run closer. Several more fireballs were thrown, and then the fighters came in close with swords and spears, and finished the poor screeching drake off. When all was over, the original human victim was dead too. Fred wondered if he had drowned in the shallow pool, or if the drake had landed on top of him and crushed him, or if his buddies had accidentally killed him. Maybe all three, Fred mused.

　　There were more exciting battles in Fred`s domain throughout the rest of the day. The humans seemed more determined than ever. "Mebbe they know about the demon threat, now," thought Fred. "Something to ask Kumbanaka about."

　　At dusk, Jim spoke up.

　　Hello, Fred.

　　"Jim! Yay, you`re here!"

　　Yes. Tell me everything.

　　"Okay. The sword is& orikalium. With a blessing. Of sharpness."

　　An Orichalcum alloy sword?

　　"Yes, that`s it. With a fresh blessing. Of sharpness."

　　How fresh?

　　"Less than a month. Kumbanaka told me."

　　He`s been very helpful. Did you thank him?

　　"Yes, of course."

　　"Fred," Kumbanaka spoke up just then. "Could you let me back into my den, please?" He was standing at the blocked up entrance to his lair, bathed in the deep orange light of dusk (what little reached down into the tree shaft) and the glow of the silver tree itself.

　　"Shit. Yeah, of course, sorry." Fred quickly dissolved the temporary wall he`d made, so Kumbanaka could step into his lair. He then refocused on what Jim was saying.

　　What else could you learn?

　　"Well, the priestess is named Sharfroen. And, and, the original sword we wanted was stolen in all the hubbub. So I can`t copy it. But Kumbanaka promised to get me another sword just like it."

　　That`s very good news. I wish all of the Earth Spirits had someone as helpful as Kumbanaka.

　　"Nobody does? I mean, nobody else has creatures they can talk to?"

　　Very few. And those that do speak aren`t easily able to mix with the humans.

　　"Oh. I guess a lot of my& the other Earth Spirits are pretty lonely."

　　Yes, though Earth Spirits are anchored to the earth by design, so they should be able to tolerate solitude. Though, honestly, I`m not sure your peers do tolerate it well. We lost so many in the first few weeks. Loneliness was a part of that. They told me so.

　　"Well, how do I help? Do I play the drums more?"

　　Yes, that would be very helpful. Play every day, if you can. And don`t be down on yourself. You`ve already been a huge help to them, in many ways. Plus, if the humans learn about weapons that can hurt the demons, they will spread that information far and wide.

　　"Good, cause I don`t know the drum word for Orikalcum."