Avner is dead, and we almost lost Galan and Lydara as well. He was crushed by a boulder thrown by a stone giant. He died with the sound of their coarse, brutish laughter in his ears. I will hear that sound in my dreams, mocking my every failure. I never understood Avner, and I must admit that at first I did not fully trust him, but he will be missed.
We were forced to cross a wide chasm as a group of stone giants lobbed boulders at us from the opposite side. Urol thinks they might have been a group of adolescents, out for a little mischief. He also says that stone giants are not “evil”—and if this is the case, I dread the day when I meet a giant worthy of being called evil.
Aramir thought that I should just fly the group across one at a time, but I was nearly knocked out of the sky by a boulder yesterday. I had no desire to make myself a target, not just once but ten times (five comrades plus return trips). Aramir made some comment about my not wanting to help others in the group, and this disturbs me. Was it Blackrazor talking, or does he truly think me a coward? Our losses were heavy, and I cannot help but think that we might have been able to escape more cleanly if we had taken a different approach. In desperation, I burned through a host of spells to cloak most of us with invisibility before flying the remaining group across the chasm. If I had done this sooner, Avner might still be alive.
This island saps our resources by the day and my heart is filled with dread. Truly this isle earns its name.
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