Holly is as stunned and taken aback as everyone else. Clearly the reincarnation has worked. This is certainly not a dwarf sitting in the long wooden box, but a man. Well, almost a man. Similar to a human, but a few things are just a little off. He looks like a slender dream of a man, not quite of our world like a half-angel half-man.
Holly remembers someone (was it Reynard?) saying that if a druid were to break Scottfard's curse he'd probably come back as a bear. The reincarnation ritual can bring the spirit back into all manner of bodies. This body is different, true, but in Holly's opinion it's a better body than a dwarf's. Why is everyone so angry? How would they have reacted if Sirrot came back as a bear?
She thinks back to another thing Reynard said.
quote:
"Only a god can resurrect the dead. It's just not possible with what you call goblin magic, witch magic, or the musical magic of the harpers. Kelney was very powerful, but she was no god. Reanimating her son was a disaster."
The situation felt a bit like that right now, a disaster, but why? Obad-Hai was responsible for this miracle, not necromantic witch magic. Kayaq had assured her it was not necromancy.
"
I trusted you, druid," Clairlyn says half from hurt and half from fury. "
I trusted you to bring me back my Sirrot, but instead you've summoned a monster! Is your precious balance worth this sort of deceit?"
"
Kill it!" shouts someone from the crowd.
You feel lucky that people generally don't bring weapons and armor to a peaceful religious ceremony, but still there are a lot of them and the mob is turning ugly. Ragnar had no idea how he'd hold them off.
In fact, the Matron of House Boril draws a long knife from her robes.
"
I'm going to send this abomination back to hell first, and then deal with you."
"
Wait Mother," the slim, golden haired man says. His voice sounds like honey tastes. "
I *AM* your son Sirrot. Remember when I almost drowned at the waterfall and my sister rescued me? Remember the song you used to sing me of the lost dwarf who followed the glow bug? I was barely out of the cradle and I couldn't get the words right. Remember when uncle Honmar gave me that iron mallet I could barely lift and you crafted a little wagon so I could bring it wherever I went?"
He looks calmly into her eyes.
"
Would a monster know these things?"
Clairlyn pauses, still clutching the knife in a murderous grip, but now unsure of what to do.