12th Day of Goodmonth, 565 CY
Drachensgrab Hills, The Pomarj
Three rangers, each bent down on one knee, silently examined the damp stone floor beneath them.
One gently traced a finger along the floor, as if following the irregularities in the limestone surface, then looked across at his two fellow rangers.
"Any thoughts?"
Argo bit his lip. "I know Talass said that Caroline was all right, but I wonder if she might have missed something."
"You know we're missing the King's Festival back in Furyondy," Nesco added with a wry look.
Elrohir stared at them.
"Those aren't the type of thoughts I was looking for, people."
His two peers looked at each other and their repressed chuckles soon leaked out. Argo looked up over his shoulder.
"You were right, Aslan. She does fit right in."
"Glad to hear it," the paladin replied through a polite and not entirely genuine smile.
Noticing her team leader's slow boil commencing, Nesco decided to get back on track. "I can't tell for sure either, Elrohir. This passage has seen some use, but I couldn't hazard a guess as to how recently, how often or by whom."
With a grunt of exertion, Argo got back to his feet and slowly started walking on ahead.
"Cygnus, bring the light over here, will you?"
The tall mage headed over to catch up to Bigfellow. The continual light that emanated from the pebble jammed into the tiny wooden box strung on a chain around Cygnus' neck bounced wildly with his stride. Alternating light and shadows washed over the party until the wizard stopped, his impromptu necklace quickly coming to rest.
The ceiling of the cavern was substantially lower at where Argo and Cygnus now stood, dipping from a roughly constant height of fifteen feet to just under seven. The big ranger peered upwards at the foot-wide section of rock just above his head for a few seconds and then grunted again, this time with satisfaction.
"Soot deposits." Argo tapped a dark patch on the ceiling with one hand. "A number of torches have passed this way. I'm guessing this is the slaver route, all right."
Elrohir nodded in agreement. "Good work, Argo. All right, everyone. Back in-"
"-back in formation; yeah, I know," groused Zantac, the most frequent critic of Elrohir's insistence on adhering to pre-arranged marching orders. He fell back in place however, and soon all eight individuals were again winding their way through the underground passageways.
Despite their slow pace, Aslan couldn't help but wince inwardly at the noise they were making. Even when no one was speaking, the clanking of plate mail, the rustling and bouncing of various sundry items against backpacks and bedrolls and of course, their own footfalls, seemed to almost visibly fan out in front of the party, echoing endlessly along the twisting and turning passageway. The paladin caught Elrohir's eye, and the nonverbal cue he received from his friend's face was enough to tell him that the party leader was all too aware of the racket they were making, but their options were limited. Talass' prayers of silence wouldn't last nearly as long as the journey they were making. Besides, their experiences with magical silence back at the slavers' stockade had left most of the party with little appetite for having to endure such a situation again, except for the briefest period.
"So what was the price, Aslan?"
The paladin looked over. Walking next to Elrohir in front, Argo Bigfellow Junior was staring back at him.
"What price?" Aslan replied, forestalling the inevitable for just a few seconds.
Argo shrugged they continued to walk. "Those silver arrows and daggers we received last time. The potions of invisibility we're carrying this time. The training we've received. We didn't pay a common for any of that, Aslan. We got them only after you had that private little chat with His Royal Majesty. So once again I ask you- what was the price?"
Aslan gazed back at the big ranger, trying to decide if Argo's tone carried genuine concern along with the relentless lack-of-tact prying that it always did. "Future service, Argo," he eventually sighed. "To be revealed to me at such time as it is requested."
"Requested?" Argo asked, his voice rising slightly along with one eyebrow.
"A kingly request," Zantac put in from his current position behind Talass.
Elrohir's wife nodded soberly. "Difficult to ignore."
Their voices died off again. Only their footsteps, metallic clanking and an occasional cough remained.
Elrohir abruptly stopped, his right arm shooting out to stop Argo. The ranger gestured ahead about twenty feet, where the passageway opened up into a larger area just at the peripheral of their continual light.
"There's someone in there," Elrohir murmured.
"Which means," Nesco added from the rear as she began to pulled an arrow from her quiver and prepared to notch it, "that they already know that-"
Accompanied by sudden loud yaps and growls, two animals suddenly charged into the light.
In his youth, back in Samseed Wood, one of Elrohir's tutors had been an old human named Iloon. While in theory a retired ranger, Iloon had been first and foremost a scholar, and had provided the young Elrohir with his only real knowledge of "book learning."
While discussing gnolls one day, Iloon had described them as having heads akin to hyenas. When that provoked only a puzzled look from the young Elrohir, Iloon had smiled smugly and then proceeded to give a description of these animals. They were carnivores of the southern grasslands, he had said, averaging perhaps three feet in height at the shoulder; and weighing in at 100-150 pounds, They had light fur with numerous brown spots, and married a doglike face and body with catlike grace.
Iloon had dismissed these creatures as a serious threat. "Unlike their gnoll relations," he had concluded knowingly, "hyenas are scavengers of carrion only. They'll always back down from a strong show of force, my boy. Always."
As the two hyenas, tails held straight out behind them, ignored all the drawn weapons and exclamations of surprise before them and leapt to the attack, Elrohir reminded himself to give Iloon a good swift kick in the balls if he ever saw him again.
Notwithstanding the fact that these beasts were a good foot taller than and probably half again as heavy as he'd been told, they seemed more akin to enraged mountain lions than cowardly scavengers.
Didn't see it coming again, Elrohir thought ruefully to himself before letting the feel of Gokasillion in his hand take his mind into battle-thought, where instinct served best and conscious deliberation was only a hindrance. He interposed his shield between himself and the hyena's fangs with little problem, but the passageway they were in was a little narrow for Elrohir's liking. His riposte failed to score a clean hit, and the beast actually caught Gokasillion's blade in its mouth and was now worrying it furiously, trying in vain to bite through this irritating object.
Argo was likewise keeping Harve between him and his foe, looking for his opening. The hyena called forth an odd cry, sounding nothing so much like a manic laugh.
"Glad one of us thinks this is funny," Bigfellow put forth. His tone was as casual as he could make it, but the ranger's face showed his concentration from fighting an unfamiliar foe.
"You ever think about getting a shield?" came a rather angry voice from Argo's blade as it barely parried another lunge from the carnivore. "This is demeaning!"
Bigfellow spared a quick grin. "De meaning of what?"
"Ye gods; your puns! Anyone want a powerful weapon who can actually appreciate it?"
Aslan was in no mood for this. "Elrohir! Argo! We're all useless back here! The corridor's too narrow! Push them back into the cavern!"
"I'm trying!" the group leader shouted back.
"I can polymorph if you-"
"Save it!" Argo shot back; all traces of levity now gone from voice as well. "If we need your Talent for these things, we won't stand a chance further on!"
Talass, standing behind Bigfellow, gripped her warhammer tightly in frustration. "What makes you think there'll be-"
No one actually saw the crossbow bolt come shooting out of the cavern ahead save Elrohir. Although he saw it too late to do anything or even cry out a warning, the missile thankfully sped by inches from his head, shattering into the stone wall beside him.
Elrohir never really thought about the minutia of what he was doing, but the ranger was suddenly crouching low and letting Gokasillion drop to the floor.
"Someone get that!"
Holding his metal shield directly in front of his face with both hands, Elrohir dug in his heels and then thrust forward. The hyena, scrabbling frantically to get past the ranger's defenses, was literally lifted off of its feet as it clung to the shield with all four limbs. It howled with frustration as it was carried backwards against its will.
Aslan, Cygnus and Nesco followed up the line. Cygnus, the only one of the three currently with a free hand, snatched up Elrohir's weapon as he passed.
Elrohir stopped at the cavern's edge. He suddenly realized that he was now at the very forward limit of Gokasillion's radiance, which meant he was a nice fat, helpless target to whoever might be in that cavern.
And whoever they were, they clearly needed no light to see.
"Laugh that off," Argo muttered as Harve's red radiance mixed with the dark red liquid covering his hyena's body. The blade was apparently stuck deep in a bone, since Bigfellow had to literally push the animal's corpse off his sword with his boot. "Hang on, Elrohir- we're coming!" he shouted. Talass, Zantac and Tojo were already coming around Bigfellow on his left.
Elrohir registered none of this. Grappling with the hyena on his shield, which was very soon going to force him flat on his back at this rate, took all of his attention.
Except the very small part that heard the crossbow being cocked.
Yelling in pain from the effort, the ranger turned his shield at what he hoped was the right time and the right angle. It was, and he was rewarded with the thwump of a crossbow bolt striking his unwanted passenger squarely in the back. It yipped and fell down to the floor, wounded but still very much alive.
Angry shouts came now from within the cavern. Elrohir couldn't understand them- but he'd heard the tongue many times before.
And he knew that smell.
"Gnolls!"
"With crossbows?" Aslan queried as he came up alongside his friend.
"The nose gnolls, Aslan!"
Another bolt greeted the paladin's arrival, but it bounced off his plate mail. Talass and Cygnus were the next to arrive, but as the latter handed off Elrohir's sword back to him, yet another bolt came flying, and the mage cried out in pain and grabbed his left hand with his right, letting his quarterstaff fall to the floor. Talass quickly grabbed the wizard's bleeding hand, ignoring her companion's simultaneous protesting and groaning.
"Talass-"
"Just shut up and don't get hit again," was the cleric's curt reply as she healed Cygnus and then turned her attention forward again.
Now enjoying the benefits of Cygnus' continual light again, Elrohir looked into the cavern.
There still wasn't enough light to illuminate the entire chamber, but he could see eight large stalagmites rising up out of the floor, arranged in two convenient rows. A crossbow-wielding gnoll was behind each one, taking care to stay out of sight as much as possible. As he watched, one popped its furry head out and squeezed off another shot. Zantac did a little yelping of his own, but the bolt missed the Willip wizard, if only barely.
"Never seen gnolls with crossbows before," Argo offered as he brought up the rear.
"Never seen them staggering their fire before either, even with bows," Elrohir added grimly as he watched Nesco's arrow bounce off a stalagmite. The gnoll behind it sneered and fired off a bolt that Elrohir realized too late was aimed at Aslan.
"Aslan! Look-"
But the paladin had been engaged in finishing off the hyena that had just gotten back on its feet and was preparing to attack again. In that second, the bolt found a weak spot in the plate mail joint protecting Aslan's right knee. The paladin cried out in pain and staggered, falling back roughly against Talass.
"Move in! Spread out!"
The party tried to comply with Elrohir's command, but more bolts came speeding their way. There was a lot of yelling; Elrohir wasn't sure who had been hit and who was just scared. He himself flinched as a bolt ricocheted off his plate mail, hard enough that he knew it would leave a bruise. The ranger could hear Cygnus' voice ringing out now, but he couldn't understand the words.
As a massive white web appeared out of nothingness, anchoring itself securely to the stalagmites, Elrohir realized belatedly it had been an incantation. He considered briefly admonishing the tall wizard for using a valuable spell so early in their voyage, then considered that they'd probably saved more than that in Aslan's Talent and Talass' prayers not used.
"Thanks, Cygnus," he said, offering a tired smile and receiving one in return.
All the gnolls appeared to have been caught in the sticky strands. The party moved slowly into the cavern, which looked to be a rough square about forty feet to a side. Little else was visible aside from the gnolls' personal effects, piled against the far wall. There was one other opening in the cavern, on the right wall relative to where they had entered.
Elrohir sighed and assessed the situation. The gnolls were struggling against the web that held them fast. They might break free or they might not, but Elrohir knew the spell had a limited duration. He knew what had to be done.
Not looking Aslan in the face, as he was aware the paladin detested these situations, Elrohir announced. "One for each of us, people. Take them out. Do it quickly," he added, looking specifically at Argo, who raised an eyebrow back at his fellow ranger but said nothing.
Elrohir kept his gaze focused on his gnoll as he approached. The creature clearly knew what was going to happen, and its rage at being imprisoned was just now beginning to give way to fear. Elrohir wasn't going to hesitate. He knew that; he'd been fighting these battles for too long, and he certainly knew what this creature would do to him if their roles had been reversed.
Elrohir actually checked his swing.
Tojo's gnoll, at the end of the column, was to his right, but he hadn't really been paying attention to it. He saw now that it did not wear the filthy leather armor of its fellows, or that a quarterstaff of its own was leaning up against the stone pillar next to it. These were details that could be explored in detail after their grisly deeds were done.
Until the gnoll suddenly exploded into action.
Ignoring the web as if it didn't exist, the gnoll dropped its crossbow, snatched up its staff and swung at Tojo. To his credit, the samurai, who never took anything for granted, was ready and the two were quickly trading blows.
"Damn it!" Elrohir yelled. He hated surprises. He rammed Gokasillion through the gnoll in front of him with more force than he really needed to. The others, taking their cue from their leader and now wary of any more sneak attacks, likewise killed their gnolls.
The gnoll was a good fighter; better than any Elrohir had seen. The staff was a barely visible brown blur as it swept up and around, nearly sweeping Tojo off his feet several times. The samurai's face was a study in neutrality as he countered each move. His own attacks were limited, but Elrohir knew they were mere probes at this point.
At some point only he knew, Tojo decided. With a fierce battle cry, the samurai swung his katana, and the two halves of the gnoll's staff clattered to the stone floor. The creature's face registered shock- which remained there even as its head was cloven from its body and rolled away, coming to rest against one section of its former weapon. Tojo's katana was already back in its sheath by then.
Elrohir was about to ask someone to detect for magical auras on this gnoll, but he heard his wife's voice him, already in prayer.
It was then that Elrohir noticed that the gnoll was wearing silver bracers on its arms. What he assumed were arcane designs were etched into them.
Too bad the gnoll wasn't a samurai. The odd thought entered and exited Elrohir's head as he turned his attention towards Talass.
The priestess reported. "Yes," she stated, already nodding. "Those bracers are magical. There's also an aura coming from that ring." She pointed at something glinting on the creature's right hand. "Nothing else that I can see."
"Does anyone mind?" Cygnus asked suddenly.
The magic-user walked briskly over to the body and began unhooking his own bracers and carelessly tossing them aside.
"Cygnus!" Nesco cried out. "How do you know his bracers are more powerful than yours? They certainly didn't do much for-"
"Anything beats nothing, Nesco," Cygnus countered, a grim smile flashing briefly across his gaunt features.
"Nothing?" Aslan frowned.
"You know my bracers were melted back at the stockade, Aslan," Cygnus explained calmly as he finished attaching the silver bracers to his arms and testing the fit.
Argo pointed at the armbands now lying on the floor. "But you replaced them in Chendl with those."
"You know we had no money, Argo," Cygnus continued in a quiet tone. "Those were decorative only. Their only point was to fool people." The tall wizard glanced around at his companions and the smile returned. "Worked well enough on you all, don't you think?"
Elrohir shot a glance over at Zantac. One look was enough to confirm that Cygnus' fellow mage had been in on this secret. The ranger turned his attention back towards Cygnus. Despite himself, Elrohir was feeling flustered.
"I thought you'd been getting hit more since then," he concluded. "But dammit, Cygnus, why didn't you tell us? We could have pooled our resources; we could have-"
"You could have done nothing, Elrohir," the magic-user shot back. "We had no extra money and a whole shipload of problems. I did what I had to do. None of us had the option of sitting things out just because we weren't properly equipped."
"Still acting unilaterally, Cygnus?" Aslan queried harshly.
Just for a moment, Cygnus' gaze glanced over to Nesco before returning to the paladin.
"Don't talk to me about keeping secrets, Aslan."
He turned his back on the paladin and knelt down, prying the ring off the gnoll's left hand. Straightening back up, Cygnus turned to Tojo, who was as usual standing passively nearby.
"I'm not sure what else it might do Tojo, but I assume you'd enjoy not having to worry about an enemy wizard catching you in one of those webs."
"Or a friendly one with really bad aim," piped up Zantac behind them.
Cygnus turned to glare at Zantac, but his lips turned up, in spite of himself. He then turned back to the samurai and silently held the ring out to him.
Tojo stood there for several seconds, and then slowly took it. He took a step backwards and bowed silently to Cygnus.
The tall mage returned the bow.
Aslan only now raised his head from an apparent intense study of the floor beneath him. "Let's move out. Back in line."
The others glanced over to Elrohir, who decided not to object to the paladin's sudden leadership tone. He nodded assent, and soon they were exiting the cavern.
"What do you think that was all about?" asked Zantac, with a toss of his head at the pile of bodies receding behind them.
"A garrison, I'd suspect," answered Nesco. "Making sure no one but slavers are allowed through."
"That's all right," Elrohir chipped in softly from the front. "I'd rather fight gnolls than talk to them."
Their voices died off again. Only their footsteps, metallic clanking and an occasional cough remained.