Well, we've had a short break, hopefully enough time for you to catch up, and maybe for a few new people to get into the way we're going...maybe? Please leave a review if so!

From the start of their journey into the Spine, time itself seemed to slow beneath the towering mountains, as though Phaedra found herself catching the merest glimpse of how long these ancient monoliths which reared, barren and bleak, toward the clear sky, had stood. The highway on which they travelled, in strict single-file, horse after horse, was once paved, but now falling into disrepair. It wound its way around the rocks and through the bleak, stone valleys, inclining steadily upward, but often forced to fall away from its original course by numerous obstacles. Often it travelled alongside vast gorges, the bottom of which could barely be glimpsed from where they rode, or clear, vibrant streams, where, and there alone, could patches of life be found. Travelling wasn't easy, they had taken supplies but these seemed meagre after a day of the often uphill struggle, especially once the horses had been fed and watered. At night these mountains, though cold and empty to the eye, seemed to be filled with the howls of wolves, the cries of predatory birds, and the lingering touch of fear. Were the orcs stalking them even now, could they be? And what of Phaedra's Astral pursuers? Could they have learned that she had left the city? Fire, and even the comforting familiarity of the spells she carefully went though as she took on the lonely duty of keeping watch at night, seemed a feeble defence against these terrors. Her bow lay always at her side, and often she found herself keeping these vigils at the side of her mount, Mistletoe, taking comfort in the warmth and heavy breaths of the sleeping animal, her own disquiet blunted by the mare's peacefulness. The journey so far had connected them in some small, strange way, she felt that they knew each other now…perhaps a slight glimpse of what Elanee felt with wild animals. Either way, she was glad Cormick had given her Mistletoe, now, more than ever, the comfort of the mare's company was a welcome one.

There was one night, then, when Khelgar thankfully woke to watch alongside her, and filled the threatening silence of the night with his careless, candid observations. Did he ever feel a sense of this fatefulness that pressed down upon her? Gradually, she turned the conversation, wondering how his progress was coming on, to the Three Trials which Prior Hlarin had imposed upon him, particularly the so-called Trial of the Evenhanded, since the other two appeared to require a fairly specific set of circumstances that were not currently available. The Evenhanded, though, they could discuss right here…

"Oh, I always took that one to be the easiest" The dwarf nodded vigorously at her query "Just tacked on at the end to make it all seem a little tougher. I think I've got it sorted anyhow"

"Right…" Phaedra glanced at him sceptically; his attitude toward Neeshka and Elanee hadn't changed seemed to change at all since the day they had discovered the Trials.

"What…?" He scowled vigorously "You're saying I haven't? I'm telling you lass, Khelgar Ironfist is not prejudiced"

"So then, shall we talk about Neeshka?" Phaedra laid her hands in her lap thoughtfully "You two are always arguing, what do you have against her?"

"What…?" He frowned, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Well, aside from the fact that her name sounds more like a sneeze than a half-decent name, oh, and she's a sneak-thief with an attitude which bites more than an orcish tusk…there is the small fact she has demon blood!" Phaedra sighed hopelessly "Come on lass!" Khelgar protested "That's not prejudice, that's just being smart, a tiefling'll put a knife through your belly as soon as look at you! Demon blood's rotten, you're always praying to the sun or whatever it is, don't you know that?"

"I think this Trial is about looking at what's inside a person rather than what's on the outside Khelgar" Phaedra tried to explain

"What's the bleeding point in that?" he snapped "You can't defend yourself by looking at what's inside them! Chances are, they'll have knifed you before you have the chance!"

"Not all tieflings are evil, Khelgar" Phaedra persisted, though the battle already seemed to be lost. "Remember what Neeshka said about dwarves when we first met, that you were squat smelly drunks…that isn't true about all of you, is it?"

"Of course it isn't, but with tieflings you can be sure from the start" Khelgar answered "And as for those elves…" Well, she very quickly gave up after that…

oooo0000oooo

It was nearing twilight on the third day of riding, when, at last, they reached Old Owl Well. The fort was nestled within a harsh and bleak valley, surrounded on all sides by sheer cliffs. They approached it from above, and Phaedra could see that the fortress there was still a work in progress, but also that the Greycloaks were intending it to be an large and important base of operations, perhaps to rival even Fort Locke. The walls were only wood, and the figures of soldiers raced around, engaged in numerous tasks to build up some sort of coherent infrastructure within the base. Others were formed up in lines, training for combat. At the centre of this rudimentary stronghold was the source of the place's vital importance, a well sunk deep into the ground, around which the first of the buildings were being constructed. There were also small wooden watchtowers set around the perimeter, occupied by sentries, as though the Greycloaks were expecting an attack at any moment.

"Orcs are persistent…" Elanee noted, with that gift she had of responding to a thought that was yet unspoken. "It may be that they are still attempting to dislodge the Greycloaks from this area"

"Yeah" Khelgar agreed "You can never get an orc to quit, that's for sure"

"Well, maybe if we are lucky…we'll find the Ambassador without even running into any of them" Phaedra shivered, clutching at the reigns of the horse nervously, the brutality of the orcs was legendary.

"Hasn't he been missing for over a week now, if your Captain was right?" Neeshka said, drawing up alongside Phaedra at the head of the group. "Somehow I doubt we'll find him at all"

"You don't know orcs then" Khelgar glanced back at his fellow rider "They like to keep their captives alive, for as long as possible"

"Right…" Neeshka grimaced, glancing away. "Thanks for the dash of sunshine to brighten my day Khelgar, it was really what I needed right now"

"Well, anyway, we'd best continue" Phaedra suggested, and they moved on quickly. The highway that had marked their path so far was essentially non-existent here down toward the valley. The orcs had occupied Old Owl Well for some time before Neverwinter's Greycloaks had finally seized it, and had no doubt destroyed any trace of its former human occupation. That fighting over the well, according to what she had heard in Neverwinter, had only just stopped, but it was unlikely the orcs had given up yet. This was going to be dangerous...

When they reached the makeshift gateway, Phaedra leant down from Mistletoe's back to show her warrant to the guards, both of whom were earnest young men scarcely older than she was. Neither were quite able to hide their shock to see the four of them appearing from the mountains; it was obvious that the Greycloaks were only just replenishing their numbers here after the fierce battles of the weeks before. They were directed toward Commander Callum, who was apparently the leader of the Greycloaks here, and instructed to dismount. So, leading the horses by the reigns, they began to make their way through the fort.

"I've heard of this Callum" Neeshka put in, as they passed a makeshift barracks building, and an obviously very enterprising merchant's stall…"He's one of the Neverwinter Nine" Phaedra glanced at the tiefling, momentarily surprised. The Nine were the nine bodyguards and most trusted Lieutenants of Lord Nasher, tasked with protecting their lord and the interests of his city. With one of these famed warriors involved in the defence here, the benefit to the Greycloaks would be nothing short of immeasurable.

The four of them managed to attract no small amount of interest as they walked to the temporary station of Commander Callum and his officers…many of the Greycloaks simply stopped whatever they were doing to stare at Phaedra and the others as they passed through. Well, she guessed they had to be the first visitors to the fort, and they were an unusual group, but still she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable being subjected to so much scrutiny….and most of it did seem to be directed at her, in lieu even of the more obvious outsiders, Neeshka, as a tiefling, and Elanee, in her druid's robes.

"What are you saying sergeant?" Suddenly, as they passed silently into the commander's complex, a voice rang out before them, loud and boisterous, but coloured by obvious annoyance and frustration. It was the voice of a man obviously trained to command above the din of battle "That we can't find enough stones? In the bloody mountains?"

Just in front of them, and standing before a large tent marked with the symbols of Neverwinter and her armies that had to be the station of the officers, was a tall Greycloak sergeant, in armour of a much higher quality than any of the others, and decorated with the symbols of rank. Nonetheless his head was bowed in contrition, and he was facing, with clear apprehension, a short, stout dwarf. The dwarf wore a deep blue surcoat marked with the weeping eye of Neverwinter over some battered, battle-stained armour. He had golden-brown hair and a beard even more impressive than Khelgar's, and he was in a state of heightened agitation, a sight which was much more fearsome that it might have seemed.

"It is difficult sir, since we lost the miners…" the sergeant protested weakly

"Are you going to be the one who reports back to Lord Nasher that the fortress was overrun because we didn't have enough stones, or will it be me?" the dwarf raged "You have plenty of men, use them!"

"Yes sir" The sergeant bowed quickly "At once sir" He turned to leave, but then caught sight of Phaedra and the others who were watching curiously "Commander, visitors…"

"I can see that, you dolt!" the dwarf , evidently Commander Callum, said, giving the four of them a cursory glance "Get to your work sergeant" The sergeant bowed again, and moved off, but before he had vanished behind the tents, he had glanced back several times, obviously curious as to what they wanted. "So…you are?" Callum raised an eyebrow, as Phaedra moved over, handing Misletoe's reigns to Elanee so she could talk unencumbered.

"I am Phaedra Blake, sir" she answered "And these are my friends, Neeshka, Elanee and Khelgar Ironfist, we're here on behalf of Captain Brelaina and the City Watch"

"Ah, the ones the Council was sending" Callum abruptly seemed a lot more interested, he gazed at each of them appraisingly in turn, a gaze which Phaedra could sense was trained to pick up the smallest detail. She wondered what he thought of what he saw. "I am Callum, that is Commander Callum to you." He nodded "I can't say the four of you are exactly what I was expecting, but Brelaina obviously thought you were up to the challenge"

"We're here to find the Waterdhavian Ambassador" Phaedra prompted

"Issani…" Callum nodded slowly "His name's Issani, and there hasn't been a sight of him for over a week now. I'd hoped to have some news for you on that, but the scouts I sent to look for sign are still out there. I hope that means there's some kind of information on his whereabouts, but until we know for certain, I'm afraid we can't let you leave. These mountains are a maze, and there's no trail from here on"

"What?" Neeshka pushed forward "So we're just supposed to wait around until your scouts come back? If they even do?"

"Correct" Callum answered coolly "These orcs are no puppies, and they know this place a hell of a lot better than we do, so I recommend you camp down and wait it out. You head out into the Spine without knowing where you're going, that journey will be a lot shorter than you'd have thought"

"We understand Commander" Phaedra glanced at Neeshka warningly, but the tiefling still gave Callum a cold glare "Where…should we stay?"

"Anywhere you like" Callum shrugged his broad shoulders "You'll have to make do with…"

"Orcs…!" At once, cutting across Callum's assessment, a loud, harsh cry rang out across the camp from one of the sentry towers just above them, and Phaedra started backwards with shock "Orcs…" The cry was repeated once again "They're attacking, from the north!"

"Ah…right on time" Callum observed wryly "Looks like you might be some use to me after all…" Phaedra gazed at him with abject dismay...making jokes, at a time like this…he must be mad! "Greycloaks, to arms!" he roared, his voice so loud that everyone in the camp must have heard. Quickly he leapt over to his tent and pulled a vast axe from the weapon rack. It was even larger than Khelgar's own, and much more vicious, spiked at its tip and glinting in the sun. "Coming, Miss Phaedra Blake?" He turned back to the four of them, raising an eyebrow questioningly…

"Of course we are!" Khelgar somehow had his own axe in hand already, Phaedra numbly pulled her bow from her shoulders, by Lathander what was she doing here? How could she fight orcs alongside these trained warriors? "Lass, get to it!" Khelgar grinned broadly at her "I'll show you how this is done!" He raced off towards the north, and Callum was close behind.

Phaedra shot a glance back towards Elanee, Neeshka and the horses. They couldn't risk their mounts like this, but Elanee had it well in hand, with calming touches, and whispers to the three horses, she was guiding them back away from the battle…

"Courage, Phaedra" She gasped, meeting Phaedra's eyes "I will take care of the horses, once they are safe I will be there, I promise. Now, though, the Greycloaks may need your help…take courage…" Phaedra nodded firmly, Elanee was right, her magic could save lives, save the fort, she had to do something, she had to bury her fear and face these monsters, Neeshka joined her wordlessly, her skills would perhaps not be of the best use in a fierce fight, but like Phaedra she would do what she could.

At the northern gate, the Greycloaks were already forming up for battle, swordsmen in front, in regimented ranks, and archers at the back. It was all just in time as well, a relentless tide of some hundred orcs was pouring out of the mountains into the valley, howling and roaring ferocious battle cries which made Phaedra's blood freeze. Her keen elven eyes picked up more details than she would have liked, as she took up place at the edge of the line of archers, these orcs were broad across the shoulder, but slightly shorter than most men, with hunched-over backs, and bestial faces, their skin was a dark grey colour, their eyes sunken and predatory, their lank hair long and dark. They wore a motley collection of different armours, a few of which were evidently formerly Greycloak, and carried bloody weapons of all kinds. Many bore grisly trophies, the skulls of animals and humans, tokens of their devotion to their dark Gods.

Phaedra closed her eyes, whispered a prayer for strength…she had to do this…she had to. As if in answer her power flared within her, yearning to be cast forth, spells sprang to mind, the ritualistic words echoed within her spirit, a small comfort before this storm. She opened her eyes, and her hands went to her quiver…it was time…

oooo00000oooo

It was done, at last. At last that battle was over, and dusk was slowly, silently descending over Old Owl Well, the grey light of the evening washing the ancient rocks clean. After the terrifying, fevered clash with the orcish horde, everything suddenly seemed so quiet, so still. Phaedra found herself standing, alone, gazing out into the silent mountains, the battle had been…terrible. When she closed her eyes she still seemed to see the awful melee between orc and Greycloak, the press of bodies, the clash of swords, the spray of blood across the stone, and the screams of the wounded and dying still rang in her ears. She had used spells extensively, to end more lives than she had ever dreamed she could. Even in the orcs she could glimpse that same final flash of fear upon their brutal faces that she had seen so many times now before they were struck by all that her power could bring to bear upon them and they were consumed, by fire, by light, by magic. Well…it was over now. The orcs had fled or died, and their bodies were smouldering on the great pyre just beyond the walls, and the Greycloaks, and Phaedra alongside them, had been victorious…she had read of the cruelties of war, but still…the sheer visceral horror of it…

"You are a useful woman to have around, Lieutenant" She turned, cutting off that thought, at the sound of Callum's voice from just behind her. The Commander stood there on the unoccupied rock, with Khelgar and Neeshka in tow, both of them were battle-stained and looking weary "The Greycloaks don't often see a sorcerer of your calibre, and that display of yours…" He shook his head; in his gaze she glimpsed a new respect for her. "My men are in awe, and as for the orcs, well I think you gave them a strong message about Greycloak capability, eh?"

"What did they hope to accomplish?" Phaedra asked quietly. There was no way the orcs could have expected to take the fort, not with the numbers they had sent on that attack, they were too few, far too few…

"Trying to wear us down, stop us from getting too comfortable" Callum answered grimly "We have to deal with about every other night, they just don't want us settling in"

"Orc chiefs aren't fussy about throwing away their warriors to get what they want" Khelgar added "Thing is, they breed so fast it doesn't seem to matter"

"Your elf friend, she's in the infirmary by the way, tending to the wounded" Callum continued "Between the two of you, you've saved a lot of my men today, so I'm glad to say I can finally give you some help with Issani. My scout just returned, and he's got something interesting I think you might want to hear"

"Oh…thank you" Phaedra pulled her thick woollen cloak around her shoulders, and walked after Callum as he led the way down to the officers' station.

"By the way, Phaedra…" Callum said, with an amused smile, as they passed through the makeshift shelters of the soldiers "You might want to know that you made quite an impression during the battle, platoons of the younger soldiers are swearing that they'll go through the Hells for your favour…" Phaedra started at him, he wasn't serious, was he? "Oh, it's true" Callum continued "You're quite a boost to morale, you know, so don't get yourself killed on this mission and dash the hopes of the poor lads"

"I knew this would happen" Neeshka snickered behind her hand "Soldiers are the worst type of romantics…"

"Ah yes, you have it exactly right" Callum nodded, with a hearty laugh. Thankfully they arrived quickly at the officers' station, Phaedra noticed the earnest-looking young man standing just outside the tent, he was wearing light leather armour and carried a short bow and arrows. "This is Pathfinder Willem" Callum introduced him, and he glanced curiously at Phaedra, Neeshka and Khelgar "Willem, tell the Lieutenant what you found out there"

"Yes sir" Willem saluted briskly "I was up in one of the valleys, and I found the remains of the Ambassador's last camp. It was burnt and looted, there wasn't much left but I found signs of what had happened. They were attacked at night, ambushed while they were sleeping. It was definitely orcs, Miss Lieutenant, there were prints from them everywhere"

"Gods preserve us" Phaedra whispered "Were there any survivors?"

"Well, they weren't all killed, and I don't think the Ambassador was one of the dead" Willem continued earnestly "But here's the strange thing, the orcs didn't even leave the bodies. They took them…the dead as well as the living"

"That is strange lass" Khelgar agreed from her side "Orcs always leave the dead, they know that it's most likely to scare their enemies if they do"

"So…how exactly does this all help us?" Neeshka asked impatiently

"The orcs we're dealing with are all under the control of one chieftain, a very powerful, very dangerous chieftain, named Logram" Callum explained "He leads the largest tribe in these parts…and since we attacked he's forged the orcs of the area into some form of unity to fling them right at us. And right now, he is the only one of the orcs bold enough to pull something like this off. Issani…I'm pretty sure is being held captive in Logram's lair, especially since he seems to have been seized right in the outskirts of Logram's territory"

"That's more like it" Khelgar nodded approvingly "We storm Logram's cave, slaughter as many of his people as we can get to, then get out of there with your Ambassador in tow"

"Well, I wish it were that easy" Callum answered "But the thing is, we don't actually know where Logram's cave is. The orcs know these mountains…and they know how to stay hidden."

"Then what can we do?" Phaedra asked, brushing her hair from her face worriedly. This was seeming more and more complex…

"I can't tell you anything, but perhaps you're asking the wrong person" Callum said, glancing back out into the mountains "There's someone else in these mountains, someone else fighting off the orcs, giving us time to regroup, to fortify. He leads an army of peasants from these parts, carries out hit and run attacks, keeping the orcs out of certain regions of the mountains. We've never been able to make contact with him, each time I try, he just vanishes, it's like he doesn't want to be found" Callum shrugged helplessly "The orcs have a name for him, they call him the Katalmach"

"Katalmach" Khelgar repeated thoughtfully "That's not a name orcs give lightly, it means one who loses himself in battle"

"He sounds like someone who wants to die to me" Callum shook his head "And it's damn foolish. If we weren't here to distract them, the orcs would slaughter him and these crusaders of his in a day, maybe less than that. But anyway, as it is, he's hit Logram's tribe especially hard, or so my scouts report, and if anyone knows where the chief is holed up. I'd wager it was him, he certainly knows the mountains better than us anyway."

"How can we find him?" Phaedra requested softly…

"Well, there's no guarantee of course, but I have a rough idea of where he is right now" Callum replied "If you headed there, chances are he'd come out and have a word with you. You're adventurers, and you're not obviously aligned with Neverwinter, if that's what bothers him. He might want to have a word"

"Wait a second" Neeshka shook her head, looking distinctly displeased with the arrangement "So we're supposed to go into the orc-infested mountains, try to find this place where the Katalmach just might be, so we see if he might know where the lair of the orc king who might be holding the Ambassador captive might be…that's a few too many maybes in that, since we'll be putting our lives on the line for this!"

"That's it" Callum answered, shrugging apologetically "Look, maybe I'd like to give you some more help, but frankly we're pinned down where we are and maybe you have a better chance getting Issani out of there alive with just you four rather than a whole army, stealth might be a better bet than brute force"

"I think it's a sound plan" Khelgar retorted, glaring at Neeshka "Phaedra has a couple of spells that might just give us the edge down there"

"Yes" Phaedra nodded, orcs rarely, if ever, used magic. She still had that advantage at least. "And Elanee knows the land and how to stay hidden" Neeshka shrugged, acknowledging herself overruled.

"It's decided then, good" Callum rubbed his beard distractedly "I had hoped you'd agree, because there's something else I really need you to do. Look, I hate to ask this, but you could end this war with a single shot of that bow" He sighed regretfully "It's Logram, he's the centre of all this. Kill him…and this war is over, at least until the orcs fight it out and find another leader, but that could take months. We'll have time to rebuild, to reinforce, to get trade running again. You could save thousands of lives…"

"And throw away our own" Neeshka muttered mutinously.

"If I possibly can" Phaedra promised, nodding determinedly. Killing Logram, that would not be easy, but she had to help these people. Callum was right, thousands of lives did hang in the balance, she had to do it. Also…if she considered it more pragmatically, such a bold action so critical to Neverwinter's success could only increase her standing with the Nine and the Council, perhaps it would be enough to get her into Blacklake "I will try"

"Thank you" Callum saluted respectfully "I sure as hell hope that the Captain appreciates what you're doing out here. I'll have a map done for you by the morning, we've been keeping tabs on the Katalmach and we're quite sure where he is right now"

"We will head out in the morning tomorrow then" Phaedra said…now they could set up camp, get things prepared, discuss this development with Elanee. The Katalmach…she found her thoughts straying to this man, who would he be? Could he help them somehow? But that would be a concern for when they found him, for now…she had to make sure they were ready, for this would be a mission like no other.