She came jogging up.  “Six wounded, mostly burns, except one with multiple broken bones.  They’ll all live, if you’ll do some quick healing.”  She pointed to a row of wounded that could be seen through the food court doors.   Allistor sprinted over to them, casting heals as he ran.  He couldn’t tell from there which were the most badly burned, so he just healed each of them in turn, starting again with the first after he’d healed the sixth.

Helen handed out health potions to each one of them as he started a third round of heals.  When he was satisfied that all had recovered fully, he joined the others in looting and harvesting the dragon.   Nigel contacted Allistor with an inquiry.

“Lord Allistor, would you like me to begin repairs of the damaged sections of this facility?”

Allistor paused.  “You can do that?  That’s great!  What will it cost?”

“Based on my damage assessment, repairs can be accomplished in less than twelve hours for a total cost of six thousand system points.”

Allistor grinned.  The defense of the citadel against the dragon had awarded much more than that.  “Yes, please begin the repairs, Nigel.  And thank you.”

An hour later, he stumbled back into bed, exhausted.

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

Endings and Beginnings

Four hours later Allistor was awake again, and half-stumbling onto the teleport pad with Fuzzy, Helen, Dean, and Andrea.  They had asked to join him at the Warren for the funeral.  When the group stepped off the pad on the other side, folks were already moving around inside the compound.

Allistor saw the gates were open, and the bodies had been cleared.  A wooden pyre was being erected outside, and the bodies of Luther and the other man were laying nearby, covered with white sheets.   Amanda stood guard over them, shotgun in hand.

“Excuse me for a minute, please.” Allistor left the others and walked over to her.  He gathered her into a hug that lasted for a long time.  “I missed you.”

“Yeah?  So much ya couldn’t call, couldn’t write?” She gave him a stern look, but he could tell she wasn’t serious.

“The dog ate my postman.” He shrugged, suppressing his own grin.

“Oh, that’s bad!  Too soon, Allistor, too soon.”  She kissed him lightly, darting a glance at Helen as she did so.  The woman smiled and gave a small wave.

“So that’s the hottie you’ve been romping around the countryside with?” she whispered, though the group was too far away to hear her normal voice.

Allistor chuckled.  “Yup.  That’s Helen.  And the only romping we’ve been doing is fighting monsters and bad people.  She’s the one who accidentally made me a Lord.  Saved my ass a couple times, too.   Come meet her.”