* XXI *
An uneasy silence fell over the party for that day's journey to Hammerfist Hold. They had been caught out by a very capable spy, and were embarrassed by the fact: they could only hope that the information that they'd handed over wouldn't be too damaging to the defence of Elsir Vale.
Guards greeted them cautiously at the northern gate of the Dwarf city; the Dwarfs were expecting a party from Brindol, but Taldir and his companions were not what had been described to them.
"Jarmaath's Men were ambushed," Boshley reported sadly. "We got there just too late."
"That would be ill news…" the nearest of two guards replied. "But we have no way of knowing that you're not Red Hand agents attempting to bluff your way in." Taldir wouldn't have sympathised with this line of thinking, until that morning.
"We've been fighting the Red Hand for a few weeks now," Arden said, joining the debate. "Jarmaath himself will vouch for us, as would many others. But I don't believe that we have the time to get a message there and back again." The two Dwarfs grumbled to each other in their own language for a few moments. "And surely, all the Red Hand would need to do to stop you joining us would be to intercept the payment: why would they go to the effort?" They continued to talk among themselves for a few more seconds until and the first turned back to them and nodded.
"Wait here," he stated simply, and vanished into the hallway behind him.
"What's on the cart?" the second guard asked, and approached. Nobody dared stopping him from pulling back the sheet to reveal its load. "How long has this been dead?" he asked, sniffing at the air around Gravak's dire wolf corpse.
"Since yesterday afternoon," the Cleric replied.
"Why do you have it?" the Dwarf asked, sounding almost amused. Gravak paused for a few seconds before replying.
"A trophy…" he finally tried. The Dwarf looked on sceptically, and with a great deal of confusion evident across its face.
"Orcs… you know?" Arden asked rhetorically with a shrug, seeming to convey far more with the gesture than her three words. It seemed enough for the guard, who let the matter drop.
Taldir peered into the gloom, and appraised the construction work. The Dwarfs of Hammerfist Hold had dug this fortress-city into and underneath the Giantshield Mountains; a fairly impressive endeavour. It was well constructed, but severely lacking in the aesthetic qualities that he looked for in craftsmanship. His thoughts were interrupted by the returning guard. He wasn't alone.
They found themselves being taken to Olral, leader of the city, accompanied by a dozen stern, silent and heavily armoured guards. There would be no easy way of fighting their way out of this. Their horses, the Gnome's beast and Gravak's cart were all taken to a stabling area. Boshley made a great fuss over the Dwarfs looking after his mount properly.
"These are the ones?" a particularly elderly Dwarf asked from a throne on a raised platform as they entered a more ornately decorated chamber.
"Tacky…" Taldir whispered aloud in Elvish, making his own comments on the décor known to those who shared the language with him.
"That's right," the guard who had left them at the gate answered. "They claim to have picked up Jarmaath's hire fee after the messengers were ambushed. Olral stroked his beard thoughtfully for a few seconds while they finished the long walk across the chamber.
"Let's hear your tale," he said when they reached the foot of the short stair beneath this self-stylised king. "Tell it thoroughly, and tell it true."
Arden did almost all of the talking, truthfully filling the Dwarfs in on everything that had happened since they had left Brindol, omitting only their intended destination in the Thornwaste, and the meeting of Mihai.
"You say these Goblins wore a second symbol, alongside the Red Hand insignia?" one of the guards asked.
"It was something like this," Taldir replied, as he quickly drew the shapes from the Goblins' armour with his finger, leaving flaming lines floating in the air for all to see.
"The Scarred Eyes…" Olral observed.
"A new enemy?" Eldarion asked.
"An old one," the first guard replied. "Seems that they've allied themselves with the invaders. They're not an exceptionally large tribe, but they're vicious fighters. For Goblins, at least…"
"Well…" Olral continued after a short pause. "The payment seems in order. The Shining Axes will depart for Brindol at dawn as promised; they will perform admirably, and hold any line that they're deployed on, providing the strategy is sound and they're not exposed. Make sure Jarmaath knows that when you return.
"Now: what are you all doing here?" he finally asked.
"Apart from delivering the payment, you mean?" Arden asked. Olral eyed her impatiently, and she did not need to be asked verbally to elaborate.
"Heading south to scout the enemy," she replied vaguely, but further glances prompted her to say more. "There are rumours of gathering forces in the Giantshield Mountains…"
"The Scarred Eyes," a guard interrupted.
"Right…" Arden agreed. "And further rumours of forces gathering in the Thornwaste." This too was deliberately vague, but Olral was far more interested in the location than the possible identity of enemies there.
"The Thornwaste is uninhabitable," he declared. "You're wasting your time if that's your destination."
"We have time yet before the invasion hits Brindol," Arden responded. "We have to follow up every rumour, and eliminate, or at least identify every enemy heading into Elsir Vale. It is not a waste of time…" Her impassioned delivery seemed to convince him well enough, and Olral gave them leave to relax and enjoy the hospitality of Hammerfist Hold before their arduous and futile journey south.
They were provided with evening meals, ale and beds for the night; the most comfortable lodgings that they were likely to have in several days. From the map that Arden had purchased, it looked like a two day journey in each direction to reach Urikel Zarl, and the land was barren, rocky, and difficult to navigate.
The following morning, before departure, Taldir sought out a Sage among the Dwarfs, and was directed to a three-story wooden structure set against one of the cave walls. He could not read the runes on the door, but once inside, the occupant assured him that he was standing in a library.
Well... it had books and scrolls: plenty of them. But very little in the way of comforts and other essential equipment. There wasn't even much light to speak of. The Sage himself wasn't all that impressive either.
"I have some questions that require research…" Taldir stated once he'd been reluctantly welcomed inside.
"Of course," the Dwarf replied gruffly. He waited expectantly.
"You see… I've heard something about a piece of rather interesting dark magic," Taldir teased. "I have no interest in using it myself, I assure you…" he stated, hopefully conveying the truth in his statement.
"Purely academic, is it?" the Dwarf asked sceptically.
"Yes…" Taldir answered. "Well, more than that: I'm looking for a way to understand and combat it." The Dwarf nodded, seeming a little happier with Taldir's latest words.
"And what is this piece of dark magic?" he asked.
"It's called, so I understand, a phylactery."
"Hmm… Soul Traps?" he asked. "You think that the Red Hand have a Lich fighting for them?"
"It's possible…" Taldir responded. "I don't want to find myself unprepared for anything."
"I can respect that…" the Dwarf replied. "I can have a look for you, but I'm unlikely to have anything for several hours."
"I see…" Taldir said irritably. He should have come here last night: he could stop in on the way back to Brindol, but they would have encountered the Ghostlord already by then.
"I expect to be back here in four days' time," Taldir declared. "Can I check on your information then?" The Dwarf nodded in response, and Taldir turned to leave. But a thought, unbidden and unforeseen, suddenly struck him.
"While you're at it," he began, turning slowly. "You couldn't research something else for me, could you?"
"What is it?" the Sage asked with curiosity.
"Another word that I heard several weeks ago," he began to explain, "and something that I don't understand…"
"What's the name?" he asked.
"An, uh," he stumbled, feeling suddenly reluctant to share it. "An Eisenkern… maybe the Eisenkern?" The Dwarf paused to make a show of writing something down. Taldir was fairly convinced that the Dwarf recognised the name already, but couldn't be sure. He bade the Sage his thanks and left. He'd ask Arden to go with him next time: she'd be far better at reading the Sage's guarded expressions.
O-O-O
The Wolf stood again, and shook its bones clean.
The moment they were into uninhabitable land, Gravak placed onyx in the corpse's mouth, and cast his spell to raise its skeleton as a fighting tool. The previous Dire Wolf that he'd risen had proved to be incredibly resilient, but it was lost to him for now, a long way to the North West, and beyond Drellin's Ferry.
Olral had been right about the Thornwaste; so had Taldir when he'd echoed and expanded on his words. It was rocky, barren, and relentlessly dry. The only things that grew here were thick, thorny briars, sprouting long gnarly spikes. They had tried to cut through the first copse that blocked their path, but the vegetation was so tough that it was simply quicker to divert a couple of miles to go around it.
They had taken a couple of such diversions when Eldarion, Elantar and Buttercup, the three with the best sense of direction, had all disagreed on which way they should be heading. Up until now, they had all agreed, but this time, they were surrounded by thick, high briars on two sides, and a large rock formation on a third, completing a triangle that blocked their view in all directions. Five paths made their way between the terrain features. Buttercup was insistent they should go one direction, Eldarion completely the opposite way, and Elantar a third option somewhere between the two.
They had been stationary for ten minutes while the three debated the thorny growth that they had just edged around, the direction and movement of the sun, erosion of rocks, wind speed, and other such bewildering things. Gravak eventually decided that he'd had enough, cast a Fly spell upon himself and leapt into the air.
It was good to be in silence for a few moments, if nothing else. The breeze was a little fresher up here too. It was no good though: he couldn't make out a thing.
He dived again, grasped Elantar by the collar, and returned to the sky.
"What are you doing?!" the Elf snapped, kicking her legs in the air.
"Hold still…" he demanded, and found it easier to control his flight path once she obeyed. "I'm not going to drop you: work out which way we need to go." She took out her spyglass and made some observations, instructing him on the various directions that she needed to face.
"Got it," she declared after a minute or so of thoroughly checking the options. "But we have incoming monsters from the north," she added. Gravak descended quickly.
"Four sphinxes heading our way," she snapped as they landed. Taldir gathered everyone into him, and threw up an Invisibility Sphere.
They waited.
O-O-O
Elantar hissed at him for silence. He threw a rude gesture in her direction: he knew that she couldn't see it, but it made him smile anyway.
Boshley dropped his voice to a lower whisper, attempting to calm and comfort Boaz. He could feel that the badger was confused and a little afraid, and Boshley spoke to him, explaining that Taldir had used his magic to hide them all from some flying monsters that were heading in their direction.
Four large creatures, very much with the appearance of a lion with large feathery wings, swooped above them, seeking prey. They all froze, and maintained silence. The monsters circled for a couple of minutes, perhaps convinced that something was hiding from them, before finally giving up and flying back northwards.
"That was close," Taldir breathed as everybody snapped back into view. "I couldn't have held that spell for much longer."
"Did you work out which way we're heading?" Eldarion asked.
"You were right," Elantar nodded to him. The Ranger grinned in Buttercup's direction, leaving the Barbarian looking disappointed. "It's this way," she added, gesturing towards the path that edged around the thick briar on their right and through some jagged rocks. They would need continue on foot, at least for now.
The rock field lasted for about half a mile before they were back into open desert. Water was scarce here, but they were fortunate to be travelling with a Cleric, and when everyone's skins were running dry, Gravak filled a barrel that he'd been carrying on his cart with fresh, cool water.
"About two hours until sunset," Eldarion observed. "Can you see any cover?"
"A few miles ahead," Elantar answered. "We should reach it in just over an hour, and be able to take shelter there for the night."
They had made the next patch of thorny growth in good time, and cut a path to a clearing in the centre to settle in. The night was uneventful, but the thorny and rocky ground made sleeping there an uncomfortable experience.
They spent a couple of hours passing through the thorns the next day, and finally exited into the open, where they found themselves at the top of a long, gently sloping hill. At the bottom, miles in the distance, sat another rocky formation.
"It's the stone lion," Elantar confirmed, and handed her spyglass around so that everybody could get a good look at where they were heading.
"Zarl haunted my dreams gain last night," Taldir announced. He had been even more sullen than usual this morning. There was a good chance that this had been the reason.
"What did he say?" Gravak asked
"He warned against not returning his phylactery… but also offered something in exchange: 'An amulet you can use in return for one that you can't,' is how he put it…"
"Any clues as to what it is?" Arden asked curiously.
"He suggested that it would make the wearer more difficult to kill by conventional means," Taldir responded.
"More dark magic?" Boshley scoffed. While the promised enhancement sounded tempting, he was convinced that anything provided by a lich would come with a cost.
"Perhaps…" Taldir pondered. "But the magic sounded exactly like the effects of the Bear's Endurance spell. It could be nothing more complicated or sinister than that." Gravak and Arden both nodded, as if they understood what this spell did.
"One more thing," Taldir continued. "His fortress is heavily guarded; he assures me that his own followers will be no barrier to us for as long as I hold the phylactery visible. He has instructed his minions to grant us safe passage to him."
"How about out again?" Eldarion asked.
"That too," Taldir nodded. "Providing we follow through with the delivery."
"It sounds simple." Arden observed. "I take it it's not simple?"
"No…" Taldir replied. "There are Red Hand forces present which he has no control over. We will need to fight our way in through those."
"Wos dere?" Buttercup asked. "'Obgoblinz?"
"Some," Taldir replied with a smirk. "Zarl said there were about a dozen elite fighters, a Cleric and a Sorceress."
"Mihai?" several asked at once.
"He didn't give a name…" the Wizard answered. "But it's possible. There's a monster there too, but Zarl doesn't know what it is."
O-O-O
Elantar didn't know what it was either. She had moved to the entrance to the stone lion alone to take a look before they attempted to force entry.
It had taken them about five hours to descend the slope to Zarl's lair, the stone lion looming threateningly ahead of them every step of the way. As they finally got close, everybody had glared at Taldir, wondering just what he was thinking bringing them all here. Arden casually suggested that he should head in alone, but Elantar had stepped forward to scout the area first.
The lion sat impassive in the middle of the desert, breaking the otherwise clear landscape. It towered over them, its mouth propped open in a perpetual roar some seventy or eighty feet above them. It extended back a long way; a couple of hundred feet, at least. Between its front paws, facing roughly in the direction that they'd come from was a long shallow set of stairs leading into the gloom.
The beast that waited in the shadows was quite unlike anything that Elantar had encountered before. It was less than forty feet from where she crouched, sheltered behind the top step to the entrance. It had wings. It was, mostly, purple. It had huge, powerful jaws, and razor fangs and claws. It was eating a sphinx, and it was huge; filling most of the entrance chamber. These were the only details that she was able to carry back to the party.
Nobody else could guess at what it was from her description. Eldarion decided to take up a position with a good vantage point for the fight that was inevitably about to happen. He climbed a smaller lion statue that sat outside of the cave mouth, just inside the larger lion's right-front paw. He couldn't identify the beast either, and shrugged in their direction.
"Let's take it," Gravak stated simply, and began to stride purposefully towards the foot of the steps. Boshley, riding on his badger mount, and Buttercup both sprang after him, the three of them making far too much noise. Thinking quickly, Arden whipped out her wand, and struck Boshley with a Silence spell, muting the three of them as they began to climb the steps. Arden and the two Elves followed, preparing weapons, spells and a Flute to combat the enemy.
They quickly gained the top of the steps, and under cover of Arden's magic were able to take the monster by surprise. Boshley lowered his lance and charged in, just as Eldarion's first shots from his vantage point struck. Arden dismissed her spell and instead began to play, raising everybody's abilities. The Bard's magic was strange, and Elantar didn't understand it… but she felt somehow more confident and capable a fighter when Arden worked her music.
She leapt over Boshley and twisted underneath a claw swipe from the monster, swinging a sword around to pierce it underneath its outstretched arm. Eldarion's hound followed her, also jumping over the mounted Gnome, but straight into the waiting mouth of the monster, who gripped it between its teeth. Dog yelped, but was soon freed as Buttercup swung her greatsword in a wide arc, opening a huge wound on the monster's neck which sprayed the inside of the cavern with gore.
The Barbarian had earned the monster's attention, and soon paid for it, being floored by a heavy swipe of its wing. She crashed against the far side of the cavern as Gravak arrived, adding his blows to everybody else's, as well as Eldarion's arrows. It was one of these arrows that finished the monster off, striking it cleanly in the eye and exiting from the back of its head. More blood, and a smattering of brains covered the wall behind where it fell.
"Oh…" Taldir exclaimed as he entered. "It's a Fiendish Bahir. Why didn't you say?"