Ri'vashi shook her head, then turned herself onto her back once more. "No, Ri'vashi thinks she will be fine. We enter the desert tomorrow, so if you could, make sure every spare container you see is filled with water tomorrow. There is a stream just south of camp. You may want to wash up as well; last chance for about a week until we reach the first oasis."
---
The journey through the desert was just as long and dull as it had been every other time they had made it. It was a few weeks for them to reach the Orcrest clan once more, during which time the mood around the warband only marginally. The grieving over the lost eventually subsided, but their worries on the future remained. Alchemists passed their time by reviewing the recovered notes on the enemy's new weapon; however, it was clear that the production of any kind of antidote would take quite some time to come to fruition, if it ever did at all. They had, unfortunately, not recovered a full list of the gas' ingredients, and they had only a precious few samples which they could test. As such, Meesei decided to order that the samples be locked away in secure crates until they could be taken back to the Bruma clan for study. Just as Meesei had alluded to when she spoke to Ri'vashi, she intended to gather the best alchemists they could to examine it.
What was far less ambiguous from the recovered documents was what they had insinuated about Vile's plans in Tamriel. Gallus' and Meesei's packs had touched on the documents containing the relevant information when they first found them, but had not had time to examine them in detail. In the journey through the desert, however, Meesei had plenty of time to study them, and what she discovered was almost beyond troubling. The prisoners that they had found within the fortress were not simply isolated test subjects. They were a part of a far larger operation that the enemy had been conducting for years. They had been taking captives, usually travelers or isolated farmers, turning them into lycans, then releasing them into areas where they knew the lycan clans could find them. The massive expansion of the lycan population over the last few years had been a direct result of the very enemy they had been fighting. Alone, that information would have been far more confusing than helpful, but combined with what they learned about the gas, Meesei was able to make a reasonable guess as to the purpose of such contradictory actions. The new gas was designed to rip away a lycan's soul, then send it directly to Clavicus Vile's realm without the need for any rituals or soul gems. It was something that any conventional magical or alchemical knowledge would say was impossible, but Meesei had seen the results herself. Some of the alchemists theorized that one or more of the ingredients for the gas could come from Vile's realm itself to help establish a link. Vile's followers had been building up their enemy's numbers for years so that they could quickly harvest thousands upon thousands of lycan souls for their master within the span of a few years. Since lycans were difficult to hold captive, especially in high numbers, Meesei reasoned that it was the quickest option Vile had to gain such a large number of lycan souls.
When the few weeks of traveling drew to a close, and the warband finally returned to the Orcrest clan's stronghold, their reception was a mix of happiness and grief. Given the severe losses they had taken, there were few in the clan who had not lost at least one person close to them. It was a fear that many had held in the clan during their long wait, and one they were devastated to see become reality. Ri'vashi announced that a memorial would be held in three days time, then excused herself to confer privately with Dro'cahi in order to discuss her intended departure from the clan.
The main chamber, and most of the halls and rooms surrounding it, were crowded with people looking for friends and loved ones, and Ahnasha, Fendros, Janius, and Kaleeth were all among them. S'ajira and Jo'rashaad would certainly be among the crowd with their sons; it was just a matter of finding them.
