SILVERYMOON
Chapter 26
Fiona had chosen to stay with the Dwarves and see what she could do to increase the production of their food supply. If the Orcs attacked, she would do all she could for them. Flee down these tunnels if it came to it. If there was going to be a war between Dwarves and Orcs yet again, she felt safer here.
Rick, Kate, Alexis, Corimin, and Eslor had an armed-to-the-teeth Dwarf who escorted them all the way out till they reached the edge of the forest. That was where he left them to go where they wished.
"Now what?" Rick asked them. "If we go around, we add a day to our travel. If we try and go between, it's minimum two days, maybe three, assuming we can get through at all. We might end up deeper into the forest than we might like."
"There's no grass that way for the horses. It sounds like we go around. We replenished our food and hay supply thanks to the Dwarves," Kate said. "The only real risk I see is if we run across an Orc army gathering to attack."
In the end, they went around the forest and added an entire day to their travels. They traveled right on the edge of the forest, ready at a moment's notice to duck into it, away from prying eyes.
Day two. They were camped in the grass just below the hills before those hills turned into mountains. From here, they could make out White Plume Mountain easily. It was the single tallest peak and had snow all over the top. The temperature was also dropping as the sun began to go down.
Kate stepped over to Rick. He was looking at the mountain they wanted into, maybe as early as tomorrow. "What are you thinking, babe?"
"About the Undead," Rick told her. "I know I tease you about believing in Ghosts, Zombies, Aliens, and Santa Claus. I just never thought I would be fighting them. I know what my kiss can do to someone if I want, so can Alexis. But to have an Undead do the same simply by touch? We could end up Zombies if we're not very careful." That was what was foremost on Rick's mind.
"Eslor says she can fix that if it happens. All it takes is a spell or the touch of her staff. I'm more interested in why he chose to taunt them with his message. What makes him so sure that he can turn us into his minions, his slaves? Or anyone else, for that matter?
"Three family heirlooms, and he walks right in and steals them?" Kate frowned. "No electricity, no alarms, so what the hell is protecting them? Undead, I get, but what else? You know there'll be traps waiting for us."
"And where is this other team wanting to beat us to them? Good or bad. Sell them or keep them. How did the word get out if he only sent three notes to each owner?" Rick queried.
"Same way it worked at home – money talks. One of the staff hears about it and sells the information. But to whom did he sell it? Do we have to fight them as well?" As if things couldn't have been bad enough. Kate was with him, at least. And they knew about this going in.
"We do what we've always done," Kate told him as she gently squeezed his hand. But right now, she was beyond tired.
"You mean put me in charge?" Rick smiled at her since he was joking with her.
"We're dead already in that case, and here I wanted to get married before someone killed me." Kate turned and left him there. She would deal with what came, when it came.
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First task? Get in closer to the mountain so they could scout it. Each of them was betting they had to go into that big pile of stone.
They walked the horses to hide behind the hills from anyone or anything around them. Then they came across something quite interesting.
It was an Orc Statue. He clearly looked to be in combat. This statue had everyone looking it over. "An Orc Statue?" Alexis didn't see why. Let alone why it was way out here.
"He's made of stone." Rick tapped his arm and found it was indeed solid granite.
"But his weapon isn't," Kate noted. "Neither is everything he is wearing. Belt and everything." Kate found that to be very odd. Why dress a statue way out here?
Leaving it behind, they went around a mound and came upon yet another statue. And there was still another not six feet away. Each was just like the last one.
"Any guesses? I could use a theory, babe." Kate didn't have a logical reason or even anything close to it.
Rick had a theory, and it wasn't a good one. "Medusa?"
"The woman with snakes for hair?" Alexis asked him. "In the movies, you needed a mirror to try and look at her. After he cut off her head, she could still turn people to stone."
"What are those?" Corimin pointed because he had spotted something flying this way. Make that several somethings.
Kate saw them too. "Birds? Big ones."
"This statue has been bitten. Here." Rick pointed at the spot. "Can birds turn you to stone?"
Eslor shook her head. "Not that I've ever heard of."
"Let's not find out," Alexis said. With that, she raised her rod and spoke the command word. Instantly three little red balls came streaking out and headed right for the bunch of birds. The Fireballs blew up nearly perfectly dead center, and when the fire and smoke cleared, they didn't see any more flying birds.
This action cost her three charges from each wand, nine charges overall.
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They found five of them scorched and dead on the ground, almost cooked completely. Although about the size of a large turkey or goose and weighing twenty-five pounds, each bird more closely resembled a chicken. But it was a hideous hybrid with the wings of a bat and a lizard-like tail. This tail had yellow-green scales, the bat wings were a grey shade, their feet and beak were yellow, and their feathers were of a golden-brown hue.
"Ever seen anything like it?" Alexis was keeping Patches back even if they did appear well done. "Anyone hungry?" Alexis laughed at her joke.
"We need to move. If someone saw that Fireball, we're going to have company." Kate wanted to get moving and be far away from here.
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They had reached the edge of the mountain and had nothing but hills behind them, with grasses beyond that, followed by a desert and then ice.
They had found a partial cave, more an overhang than an actual cave. So the horses were hobbled, and lots of hay was left behind, with containers of water that Corimin opened. And they hurried back outside.
"Give me a few minutes." Kate turned into a swarm of bats and flew toward the mountain.
Eslor's jaw dropped; she was seeing the impossible. "She can do that?"
"Kate has her uses. You haven't seen anything yet." Alexis still had to do what she could do. She was sure she would have to, and soon.
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"Where is she?" Rick was getting worried. It was taking too long. That was until they all spotted a swarm of bats headed their way. And then it turned into Kate.
"I've got a possible entrance into the cone that's a cave on the south slope. This cave actually seems to breathe, exhaling a large cloud of steam and then slowly inhaling, something like a person on a cold day. Each cycle takes about thirty seconds. Approaching the cave, I could hear a whistling noise coinciding with the wind cycle. If not for the continuous roaring of the Plume, this whistling could possibly be heard from a great distance.
"A quick look suggests that if we practically crawl inside, the steam will go over our head," Kate told them. "But it's going to be hot in there. It's all I could find.
"We climb, or we fly to reach it. Climbing is going to be a challenge," she added.
"I only have two Fly potions, one to get in with and one to get back out," Eslor stated. "If I need more than that, I have a problem."
"I have three, but that mostly leaves me with the same problem," Corimin said. His Staff of Power,as good as it was, didn't have Fly.
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After crawling their way in, they were all standing there, almost soaking wet, and taking off their winter clothing as fast as they could. It was like being in a steam bath in there. All of those wet clothes went into backpacks to get dried out later. They didn't have time to hang them up to dry. Besides, it was still steamy there.
Rick looked down. "Staircase going down. Spiral, no less."
"Be right back." Alexis went Ethereal and headed down.
"Her ability is amazing." Eslor loved having a scout that no one would see or should be able to see.
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"Okay, the stairs go down really far. At least a hundred feet, if not more. All made out of stone. Kind of a tight fit, so Dad might have to stoop a little. Once you're at the bottom, there's a tunnel. It eventually goes three different ways.
"To the right, there's another fork in the road. Straight ahead leads you right into a pool of deep water, about 15 by 20, I would say. Beyond that is a set of stairs going up.
"To the left is a long corridor. Strangely, there are large copper plates on the wall to either side, all the way down. Easily 60 feet long. At the end is another set of stairs going up. That's it. No one's down there, not even a dead skeleton. We might be the first ones here," Alexis told them.
Kate frowned. "I'm not placing my money on that. So, right, then straight, and finally left?" she asked them.
"Come on, Patches, we're out in front this time." Alexis went toward the right with Patches right next to her.
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At the fork in the road, they had a choice to make. But Alexis made it for them by going left. It ended with a door that easily opened. So far, Alexis was thinking this was going to be simple. Why was everyone so worried about this place?
"UH-OH!" She may have spoken too soon. Inside this room, which was about 20 by 30, stood five beings that looked made out of disgusting rotting flesh. The room even stunk like rotting flesh. However, each of them had a sign hanging around his neck.
5 7 9 11 13
"One of us does not belong with the others. You can pick it out, it will serve you, and the others will allow you passage. If you choose the wrong one, we will kill you. You have sixty seconds." That was what Rick, Kate, and especially Alexis heard since they were up front as soon as the door opened.
"They're wearing numbers," Kate noted.
"This is easy. Remember that door with the symbols on it? All but one of these numbers is a Prime Number. 5, 7, 11, and 13 are Prime Numbers. Number 9 isn't." Rick looked at the others, and Kate nodded.
"We chose number NINE," Rick announced. Instantly four of them almost collapsed, while number NINE stood straight.
"Now we get to test it, I suppose?" Alexis asked and stepped into the room. But nothing happened. "Seems to have worked."
Getting through the next door was easy. It was just another corridor. However, just around the corner, there was a metal turnstile.
"I've seen these before. It spins, and the bars prevent you from coming back out. We go through, and we trap ourselves." Alexis looked it over. "Be right back. You stay, Patches." Alexis vanished.
"You've seen something like this before?" Eslor knew she hadn't.
Kate nodded. "Yep. Baseball stadiums used to use them. It's a security measure. You can get in, but you can't get back out."
And then Alexis was back. "Alright, you want the good news or bad news first?"
"The good news." Rick loved good news.
"There is no good news, it's all bad. There's a door at the end. On the other side is a large pit in the ground. Fifty-foot ceilings and easily 50 feet down. There are nine of these wooden disks suspended by chains from the ceiling. It looks to be the only way across. Now, this is where it gets fun. While I watched, columns of steam shot up out of the floor and made several of the disks move. In the distance is a platform and a door.
"And, this is where it gets really, really bad," Alexis said.
Rick frowned at her. "I thought you said there was good news!" So far, it was all bad.
"I lied. …Just beyond that door is a long corridor that ends in a 30 by 30-foot room. The only thing in that room is a coffin. I'll give you one guess as to what I'm thinking is in it." Alexis waited impatiently.
"Well, it's not me. I don't sleep in a coffin. I sleep in a bed in my bedroom right next to my future husband." But Kate was betting that there was a Vampire in that coffin.
"Long lost brother, perhaps?" Rick teased her.
"Keep it up, Castle, and you're sleeping on what passes for a sofa in the living room," Kate warned him. "For a week."
"Before you two start a fight, how do we get past this thing? And by that, I mean back out." With that, Alexis got them back on the first problem.
"Rip it out? Break it down? How strong do you think our new friend here is?" Rick looked at their new putrid, walking and talking, whatever it was.
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It turned out their new friend was relatively strong. He had that thing broken down into the simple tubes that made it up.
"Now what?" They had reached the pit with hanging wooden disks.
"I may be training to do many things, but this looks beyond me," Kate said, shaking her head.
"I don't know if the door on the far side is locked or not." Alexis had simply gone right through it instead of opening it.
"I brought my lock pick kit from my training. I could give it a try," Kate suggested.
"If there is a Vampire, remember no electricity or cold," Eslor reminded them.
"How about you fly across and open the door somehow. Dad and I fly across to join you, and the two of us send Fireballs down the hallway after you open the door on the far end and fly back to join us," Alexis submitted. "It means you two stay here and watch our backs." Alexis meant Eslor and Corimin.
The area in front of the door was kind of small, meaning not enough room for all three of them. So, they waited for Kate.
"It's not even locked," Kate called back after she flew across as a swarm of bats. Next, she flew down the hallway to the next door and determined it to be unlocked. So she opened it and flew back just past Rick and Alexis.
"You first, Dad, then we do it again and maybe again for good measure." It meant a lot of charges for her, but it beat being in hand-to-hand combat with a real Vampire.
Rick used up three charges while Alexis used up twenty-seven charges to go with the previous nine charges. That meant she was using up her three wands pretty fast.
Now while Rick's Fireball came down the hallway toward them, it was Alexis's Fireballs which had them all worried. But they came up just short. However, they could feel the heat.
"Be right back." Kate flew down and looked around. She could see the room was scorched fairly heavily from fire. There was indeed a coffin. Or there had been a coffin. Whatever was inside it was also in the same condition. In fact, it did contain a body. However, the coffin was off its pedestal, exposing a hole under it.
Kate was back. "Give me the Portable Hole. I've found something."
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Kate was back fairly soon and fished a weapon out of her backpack. "I think this is Whelm. It matches the description. Six sacks containing silver and gold pieces, one potion, and three scrolls," Kate told them.
"Turn around, Castle. You get this one." Kate wanted to stuff that one into his backpack.
"I think there was someone in that coffin. The place burned to a crisp. I could even feel the residual heat," Kate added.
(10,000 silver pieces and 9,000 gold pieces in six leather sacks, a potion of Mind Reading, and three spell scrolls, Conjure Minor Elementals, Dispel Magic, and Magic Mouth).
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That meant returning to the first fork in the road and going straight. They brought their newfound friend with them since he had proven useful.
Alexis was out in front with Patches just a bit out in front of her. Rick was next, followed by their new friend. Then Eslor, followed by Corimin, and finally Kate. She kept looking behind her.
First up was a room full of water that did indeed look very deep. It presented the same problem as last time. Only three could fly across that if they wanted to fly when they left here.
"Do we want across, or is this a dead-end?" Rick queried.
"Be right back. You stay, Patches." Alexis vanished and went to look. It took her some time to come back. "Good news or bad news?" Alexis was beginning to like doing this, knowing her dad loved good news.
"Good news," Rick told her.
"Good news, it's not a dead-end or doesn't look like one. Bad news, after we cross this, there are three doors, one after the other. My money is on all of them being locked. After that, there's a massive space. I can't see the ceiling, and it's full of water. At least 160 feet across.
"In the center is a pedestal with a chest sitting on it. What's in the chest, I have no idea. What's in the water, I have no idea. Is the chest a trap? Again, I have no idea. I actually thought about taking the chest, going Ethereal again, and coming back with it. The thing is chained in place, and the chest is indeed locked," Alexis told them.
"Your good news sucks, Pumpkin," Rick grumbled, and Alexis just smiled at him.
"We need a new plan," Alexis told everyone.
"Is there a place for us to stand at all?" Kate asked and saw her shake her head.
"You barely have space to stand on the pedestal where the chest is. But you're missing the point. When we open that third door, water will come rushing this way. Maybe even enough to dump whoever opens the door backward into this pool," Alexis told them.
Rick raised an eyebrow. "Good news, huh?"
Alexis shrugged. "Sorry, Dad."
"I'm thinking that if Alexis can manage to open the third door, she instantly goes Ethereal," Corimin suggested.
"Then I fly all the way to the chest," Kate said. "Use my tools to unlock it, take whatever is inside it, and leave the chest itself behind. If I get attacked, I change back to a swarm of bats and fly away. Maybe up and fly around till whatever it is gives up and then try again."
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The plan had worked...to a point. Thanks to Alexis's training to pick locks with her dad, she got the final door open, and sure enough, a lot of water came rushing this way. Alexis just handed the tools back to Kate, who flew across.
While she worked on picking the lock, two things happened. A hoard of Aquatic Zombies came up out of the pool. All the water being added alerted them to an intruder.
Kate had her own problem. A huge Giant Crab rose out of the water and tried to grab her. It forced her to give up picking the lock, fly up to the ceiling, and fly around watching it.
"Zombies." Eslor had no problem identifying them. She instantly grabbed her Holy Symbol. "By the Power of Pelor, I Banish You!" There were eighteen of them in total, and Eslor and the others watched as nine of them literally crumbled into dust. However, that left nine that were unaffected.
Alexis thought quickly, pulled out her Wand of Web,and used it. Instantly, the entire room filled with webs, with all nine trapped in them.
"Nice! Now, what do we do when Kate comes back or if she yells for help?" Corimin liked it, but it was temporary.
"Burn them?" Alexis shrugged. It had been a spur-of-the-moment idea, not exactly well planned.
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The second they spotted a swarm of bats that couldn't get through, Eslor splashed the webs with some oil out of her backpack, and they lit the webs with fire. Now, this freed the Zombies, but in addition, it allowed Kate to get through. She flew past them, and everyone ran till they reached the fork in the road so they could go left next.
Kate was standing there with a Trident in her hand. "This is Wave. It's even talking to me. Can weapons do that?" Kate could hear it talking to her in her head.
None of them had a good answer. But it wouldn't fit in anyone's backpack, leaving Kate to carry it. She had found it, rescued it, and it was happy to be in her hands. However, it was asking her questions. Like, was she truly a Vampire?