After the Mountain Falls: A Name to Conjure With Chapters 27-28

Book: A Name to Conjure With by Donald Aamodt (1989)

The mountain is gone. Like, completely gone. Sandy wakes up and the entire fortress that they just raided has been wiped off the map. Where Tham Og Zalkri stood, there’s nothing. Rubble, dust, and open sky where a mountain used to be.

But the fighting isn’t over. Not even close.

Sandy’s New Body

Sandy wakes up and something is different. Not different like “I feel refreshed.” Different like his body has been rebuilt.

Every scar is gone. The blue brands on his palms. The cuts and bruises from weeks of travel. All of it. His body is perfect. Not superhero perfect. Brand new perfect. Like someone took everything Sandy was and cleaned it.

This is the Goddess’s work. The destruction of the altar released enormous power. She used some of it to remake Sandy’s body. He’s going to need it.

And Glupp survived. The weird little creature that’s been following Sandy around made it through the mountain’s destruction without a scratch. That thing is either very lucky or very important. Probably both.

The Treasure Cave

Sandy finds the remains of the treasure room. Uskban is sitting there looking miserable. Not celebrating. Not counting gold. Just sitting with his head down, lost in thought.

Pognak stands guard nearby. Silent as always.

And Zhadnoboth is screaming. The sorcerer somehow made it to the treasure site, and he’s absolutely losing his mind over the scattered treasure. Gold, gems, and artifacts are buried under tons of rubble. The fortune that was supposed to make him rich is half-destroyed and spread across a debris field.

This is peak Zhadnoboth. The mountain that held a dark god’s cultists for a thousand years just collapsed. People died. History was made. And the sorcerer is on his hands and knees picking through rocks, yelling about broken jewelry.

Some people never change.

The High Priest Rises

Then everything goes wrong again.

A Zalkring High Priest emerges from an abyss in the rubble. Not a regular priest. A High Priest. One of the most powerful servants of Kels Zalkri. He survived the mountain’s destruction and he’s coming up angry.

The priest attacks Zhadnoboth first. Shadow magic. Dark energy that wraps around the sorcerer. This isn’t a regular priest. This is someone who draws power directly from a god.

Uskban charges. The Key of Arimithos blazes blue around his neck. The ancient talisman lights up like it knows exactly what it’s fighting.

The priest responds with dust of oblivion. He throws it at Uskban and the warrior goes down. Not dead. But close to it. Erased from the fight in an instant.

Pognak’s Last Charge

Pognak sees Uskban fall. The giant, mute warrior who lost his wife, his son, and his unborn child to the Zalkrings. Who had his tongue cut out. Who hasn’t been able to speak a word of his grief or rage for years.

Pognak charges.

He hits the priest’s staff. Shatters it. Breaks the source of the priest’s power into pieces.

And then the stored energy inside the staff detonates. Every spell, every dark prayer, every bit of power that staff contained explodes outward in a firestorm.

Pognak dies.

Standing in the fire, doing the one thing he could do. Breaking the weapon that was killing his friends.

It’s devastating. Pognak never got to tell his story. He never got to say what the Zalkrings took from him. He never got revenge in words. Only in action. His last act was destruction and sacrifice.

Sandy has to tell Uskban. That’s the worst part. Uskban comes back to consciousness and Sandy has to look at the man who just lost his closest companion and tell him Pognak is gone.

Sandy Fights Back

The priest’s staff is destroyed, but the priest isn’t dead. He’s weakened, staggered, but still standing. Still dangerous.

Sandy grabs Zhadnoboth’s lightning bolt. The sorcerer vanished with whatever treasure he could carry. Because that’s what Zhadnoboth does.

Sandy takes the lightning bolt and kills the Zalkring High Priest. Finishes what Pognak started. The guy from Baltimore who couldn’t fight at the start of this story just killed one of the most powerful servants of a dark god.

Kels Zalkri Returns

But the day isn’t done.

Kels Zalkri returns. The dark god himself. The one who was thrown from Zarathandra when the altar was destroyed. He’s back. He’s furious. And he’s coming for them.

Uskban, grief-stricken over Pognak’s death, does the most Uskban thing possible. He charges directly at a god. No plan. No backup. Just raw rage and the Key of Arimithos burning blue.

Uskban doesn’t hesitate.

Chapter 28: The Goddess Prepares

The Goddess sees what’s happening. Kels Zalkri has returned, but he’s weaker now. His portal was destroyed. His altar is gone. His mountain is rubble. He’s operating on whatever power he has left, and it’s not enough to be what he was.

But he’s still a god. Weaker doesn’t mean weak.

The Goddess prepares to enter the fight herself. She’s been orchestrating this from the beginning. Planning for a thousand years. Moving pieces. Shaping events. And now it’s time for her to step onto the board.

Losses

These chapters hit hard because of Pognak. He was never the loudest character. He literally couldn’t be. But his presence in the group was enormous. The gentle giant who absorbed pain without complaint. Who fought without being asked. Who died without saying goodbye.

Aamodt built Pognak carefully throughout the book. He gave us small moments. Pognak’s loyalty. His quiet grief. His physical courage. So when the giant falls, it matters. It matters more than any battle or explosion.

Zhadnoboth running away is exactly right. Sandy stepping up is exactly right. Uskban charging a god is exactly right.

Everyone does exactly what their character demands. That’s the mark of a story that knows its people.

Previous: Inside the Black Mountain | Next: Sandy Speaks His Name