I have made a grave error in judgment these past weeks. The woman was not an enemy. It is unfortunate that it took an event as momentous as this to make me realize that.
I omitted an important event that occurred several days ago. One night in the woods, I confronted the woman, asking her her purpose, and why she kept up the ruse that she was here to protect me, while everything about her mysterious appearance spoke against her. I have thought a great deal about her answer, especially these past couple hours, while I wait for the local wizards to identify magic artifacts. She seemed not to know very much herself, but she knew the details of our mission. She spoke of righteousness and benevolence and the nature of goodness. She said I had a destiny that went beyond the mission. She claimed that our master was the original sensei – the one who trained our forebears. I thought that was nonsense when she said it. He himself has said that he's the last of a line…
Now she has sacrificed herself. Now that I realize how useful she could be to our mission, she is gone.
The gnome took us invisibly into the city, and I believe it pure luck that his unreliable magics weren't penetrated. We wandered the town while the magic lasted, getting a sense of its scale and layout. Patrols of guards were everywhere, in the streets, on the walls. We had a lengthy battle in a warehouse with members of the town guard, thus revealing our presence, and we just barely escaped by climbing out a window and jumping off a rooftop. We hid in a tavern cellar that, luckily, turned out to be the center of a resistance movement. The bartender, together with an elf and a wizard, agreed to protect us.
Then, finally, I was allowed to leave, taking the Brute along to carry the Healer and the two hundred pounds of gold that the servant said we'd need. The servant himself contributed almost a third of the amount, an action I hope to understand later. I wanted the Swordsman to come as well, but he would not, and the woman came instead. I transported us to the priest's home, where I found him injured from some recent battle. He could not help the Healer, but he took us to his temple, where the same high priest who saved the samurai's master claimed he could save the Healer.
He couldn't, of course. I gave him the two hundred pounds of gold and he performed some ritual behind a curtain, but he failed to bring the Healer back. He said someone wouldn't let him, and when I asked to speak with this person, he said it was a god. That was nothing but an excuse for his own powerlessness. He said a sacrifice was required, but would not explain what he meant. That was the end, I thought. Six remaining to fight the Enemy, when we needed eight.
Then the winged woman asked me how important the Healer's life was. I did not know why she asked, but I told her that the fate of the world had depended on his survival. Thick-skulled as I am, I still did not understand what was about to happen. She explained that she would give herself in the Healer's stead. It was only then I realized that she was not an enemy. She made me promise that I would let the Healer protect me as I had not allowed her to do, and then she went behind the curtain, and I followed.
I watched her, in a trance, as she kissed the Healer's forehead, and then rose to the heavens, fading out of existence. I still do not know what an angel is or what this heaven place she is from is like, but I now believe that she is an angel, and that such a creature is one to be admired. When my trance broke, the Brute was standing next to me, and the Healer was sitting up in his bed.
If it had been within my rights to do so, I would have given myself. Now the winged woman– now Essethra is gone instead.