Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 23

The hunter of beasts

The air was still. Dawn seemed to almost sneak up on them as it slowly bathed the area in soft orange light. It was almost idyllic, but for the deathly silence surrounding them and the stench of carrion wafting out of the cave, the lair of the wyvern they were hunting.

Kivan checked his quiver again, making note of a few special arrows within. Wyverns were tough beasts but with him, Coran, Khalid and Imoen focusing the beast down as it emerged from its lair, they could end the battle before it could close on them. Of course, that was assuming there was only one of the creatures within. Takiyah seemed to think there may be more than one in the vicinity, judging from the number of carcasses they found. The man seemed almost excited at the notion of battling two of the beasts, as if looking for a chance to test his mettle.

In Kivan's mind, though, this was an unnecessary diversion. They needed to get to the Mines. They needed to get to Tazok.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of movement from within the cave.

"Be ready," he announced, keeping his voice level.

Beside him, Coran, Khalid and Imoen nocked their bows. He did the same, selecting a particularly nasty arrow for his first volley. Further back, Elene dropped into a crouch, her hand loose by her side, ready to launch a spell. Xan remained standing behind her, motionless but just as prepared. Jaheira and the two druids were on the other side of the rocky approach to the cave, their skins resembling tree barks, to deflect the worst of the wyvern's claws if it came to it.

Claws scraped against stone. The sound grated on his ears as the creature came into his line of sight at the mouth of the cave. It was a large grey-scaled beast, scrabbling forward with two scaly legs and the tips of its leathery wings. Finally, he saw the arrow-shaped stinger make its appearance, flicking back and forth behind the wyvern to stabilise the creature. He felt grateful for the vial of antidote on his belt. The poison from a wyvern could end a man in minutes if left untreated.

The wyvern cleared the cave entrance and began to stretch its wings.

"Now!" Jaheira shouted.

Kivan loosed his acid-tipped arrow, which flew true and struck the wyvern's right wing. The others likewise hit their targets, the first round of attack designed to keep the beast grounded for the fight. An ear-piercing shriek resounded from the creature as it flailed from the impact of four arrows, drawing a wince from Imoen. But Kivan ignored it, already nocking another arrow for the second volley, his motion mirrored perfectly by Coran.

Faldorn raised her hands and called forth her summons, three snarling dread wolves which materialised from thin air not far from the wyvern. The wolves nipped at the wyvern's legs, trying to tilt it off balance. Despite its injuries, the wyvern was still in fighting form, and it showed when it whipped its stinger forward and killed one of the wolves in one fell blow. The wolf didn't stand a chance.

His second arrow jammed into the joint connecting its right wing to the body, the acid splashing across with a satisfying hiss. He was certain it won't be able to fly off anytime soon. Job done, he nocked his third arrow to aim for vitals the next round.

This was easier than he thought it would be.

In the next minute, the wyvern finished off the two remaining wolves with crushing bites and whip-like trashing of its stinger. But as far as they were concerned, the wolves had done their job well. Takiyah growled as he shifted into a brown bear and charged the wyvern, sensing an easy kill. Khalid put down his bow and moved off to join Jaheira in the melee. Twin bolts of fire flew in from behind to hold off the beast while Khalid closed in. Although the bolts themselves didn't do much damage, it made the creature more erratic as it seemed to panic at the sudden flashes of fire.

Just as Takiyah clawed a chunk of flesh from the wyvern's exposed belly, Kivan's ears caught the ominous sound of claws scraping within the cave again.

"There's another one coming!" he yelled.

That was all the warning the rest had before a second wyvern launched itself out of the cave, hissing angrily. Jaheira quickly repositioned herself away from the new threat, calling forth entangling vines to snare up the second wyvern as she did. The archers likewise redirected their fire, Kivan cursing as he did. Their efforts didn't do much good as the beast had already taken flight and easily deflected their uncoordinated attacks.

As the first wyvern crumpled in a heap, the second wyvern swooped in with both claws at Takiyah in his bear form, singling him out as the biggest threat due to his size. Its rapid claw attacks shredded the bear's flesh, forcing Takiyah to revert to his human form. Unfortunately, he did so on all fours, leaving him unprepared to backpedal away when the wyvern swung in with its tail at his head for a coup de grace.

Faldorn shrieked when the stinger connected, ending his life.

The next few minutes went by simultaneously very quickly and in slow motion. Khalid and Jaheira danced out of the way of the wyvern's follow up attacks with its stingers, but it got closer to striking them with each blow. The archers began to adjust to the creature's movements, however, and began striking at its wings to ground it, just as they'd done for the first wyvern. Once it landed, Faldorn transformed herself into a dire wolf and charged recklessly into the fray.

Jaheira overextended when she reached over to jab her staff at the creature's leg joint, however, giving it an opening to thrash its stinger at her. It was a glancing blow on her arm, but it connected nonetheless, despite her protective magic. Hissing in pain, Jaheira backed away, fumbling at a vial of antidote from her belt. The creature made to advance on her, but a large earthen fist burst out from the ground, grabbing one of it's clawed legs and holding it in place. It reared back and let out an enraged shriek as it tried to get away.

In doing so, it left its throat exposed. Coran put arrow through the centre of its throat with a whoop of triumph, and his arrow was almost immediately joined by another from Kivan, his aimed for the eye. The wyvern gurgled and teetered on its feet before crashing to the ground, already dead.

Kivan lowered his bow, watching Khalid reach for his wife. Jaheira should be in safe hands, Khalid carried an entire belt full of healing potions on him. He noticed Elene about to rush past him, presumably to try to heal Jaheira and prevent the worst of the damage from the wyvern's poison. But the ranger pulled her back by the arm.

"Let her take the potions," he told her.

"But my ability works faster…" she began.

He tightened his grip and pulled her close. "Use it only when there's no other choice, Elene."

"Why?" she asked, startled.

"Just do as I ask." He gave her a reprimanding look. "You don't know what you're playing with."

"I…" She stared at him with something akin to trepidation. After a moment, though, she seemed to read something in his expression. Slowly, she began to nod. His point made, he released her and went to check the cave.

Carefully, he inched toward the mouth of the cave, his ears peeled for any motion from within. The stench became almost overpowering as he stood at the cusp of the lair, and in the darkness, he could make out the multitude of carcasses littering the floor within. Further in the back, there seemed to be a nest of sorts, with broken remnants of what must be eggs. A slow scan of the area yielded nothing living.

"Clear," he announced.

Imoen appeared at his shoulder. "Should we check inside?"

He half-shrugged. Nothing in there would likely interest him.

Returning to the scene of the battle, he saw that Jaheira had quaffed both antidote and healing potion but remained pale and weakened, with Khalid hovering protectively near her. Faldorn had reverted to her human form and was bent over her fallen comrade, her face twisted with grief.

"You fool, you were supposed to stay back and let them deal with it," she whispered to Takiyah's lifeless form, so softly that only elven ears would have caught it.

He then noticed Coran, the elf inspecting the larger wyvern carcass with interest. As if trying to pick out a part to take as souvenir.

"A beauty, isn't she? Just what Kelddath ordered," the rogue whistled.

"You may want to wait before doing that," Kivan remarked in an undertone, flicking a meaningful glance at Faldorn. In her current state, there was no telling how she would react to trophy-taking, feral beast or not.

Following his gaze, Coran nodded. "Right. Point taken, friend."

Kivan almost wanted to scoff. So, the rogue had some sense after all.

"We can help you bury your friend," Elene offered to Faldorn.

"Leave off. I don't need your help," the druid whipped her head to glare at her instead.

Getting to her feet, Faldorn pointed to the ground close to Takiyah's body. A large patch of earth was gouged out almost by an invisible hand, cast to one side in a mound. Whispering unintelligibly, she got to work dragging her companion into the makeshift grave, staunchly ignoring the rest of them as she set about her grisly task. Elene looked to Xan, but the enchanter just shook his head. Let her be, his look said.

Once Faldorn was done, she wiped her hands on her tunic. She looked no less fearsome now that she was on her own among them.

"It is done. I wish it had been one of you to take the blow, but perhaps you still have your uses," she hissed, her gaze directed at Jaheira. "Get up. We are to meet with the rest of the Circle at the installation by tomorrow. I cannot wait to drown those bastards in their own filth."

Khalid looked about ready to protest until Jaheira waved him off. "Let us not waste time then."

Despite suffering the aftereffects of the wyvern poison, Jaheira showed no signs of wobbliness as she mockingly gestured for Faldorn to lead the way. With a huff, the other druid stalked away, moving eastward to their real prize.

"You lot go on ahead, I'll catch up," Coran piped up.

"Watch out fer things dropping from the sky," Imoen wagged her finger at him, earning her a chuckle.

It had taken them several hours to get to the wyvern lair from the druid grove. But a significant portion of that journey had been through a steep climb down, which they would not be able to manage in reverse. Furthermore, Takiyah had been the one to smoothen the journey by controlling parts of the terrain. Given that avenue was permanently closed to them, Faldorn was forced to take them through a more roundabout route to the Mines.

Basically, more time wasted.

With a skilled navigator already at the head of the group, Kivan relegated himself to the tail of the pack to stew in silence. Despite his drive to get to the Mines, he was hounded by a strong feeling that Tazok was no longer in the Cloakwoods. Too much time had passed between their raid of the monster's camp and their journey to the Iron Throne base.

But for the first time since Deheriana's death, he was troubled by something other than his hunt for Tazok.

He stifled a yawn, trying to ignore the leaden fatigue weighing him down. His nights have not been restful since the camp raid. Try as he might, reverie did not come easily. In its place, he wandered a blurry dreamscape void of everything but an ominous sensation that lingered even after he'd opened his eyes in the morning.

For the past week, he'd avoided much interaction with the others. He didn't want them to see his struggle. But most of all, he didn't know what to think of Elene.

Months ago, he'd accepted her friendship and walked her path in hopes that her group would help him pursue Tazok. They were still on the right track. The Iron Throne is the key to both their problems, that much was evident. His doubts about her came to the fore that night in the bandit camp, as his life blood poured onto the ground and his vision began to fade around the edges. The night she touched his gaping chest and poured something into the wound, making him whole once more.

In the dimness of the large tent, her hands almost seemed to glow, and he stiffened in pain as she touched him with that unholy light. His flesh began to forcefully knit itself together, as if compelled by a powerful will. Like a divine healing spell, but cruder. Harsher.

"I…made it better," she'd whispered, after all was mended.

And yet, as she healed him, he'd thought of death, of blood spilt on cold stone, of suffering beyond imagining. Whatever power she'd used, it was unnatural, and it shook him to the core.

He wondered if she'd doomed him.

Looking at her trekking ahead of him with Imoen, though, he could not imagine anything evil coming from her. Granted, she was no longer that girl who sat paralysed as a bounty hunter menaced her. But not so long ago, she had shown mercy to a drow out of a naïve sense of fairness. How could the same girl be capable of drawing on such frightening powers?

His musings came to a halt as he heard the tell-tale patter of boots not far behind him. He paused, half-turning to check. Within a minute, Coran appeared from the thickets, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hail, friend. Glad you waited," the other elf remarked, an amused glimmer in his eyes.

"Where did you keep it?" the ranger asked, studying him with mild curiosity. A wyvern's body part is not something easily hidden from sight. He would have thought he'd taken the head as proof, and that was about the size of his torso.

Coran winked. "Us rogues have our little tricks."

Kivan shook his head, unwilling to rise to the bait. He turned to resume his trek.

They made swift progress through the woods with Faldorn's guidance. Despite her apparent youth, she was a seasoned dweller of the Cloakwoods, intimately familiar with its twists and turns, and its threats. Imoen and Coran were the only ones of their group brave or foolish enough to try and strike up conversation with her as they went along. But as expected, the woman had little patience for idle chatter. She kept all of them at arms' length, which suited most of them just fine.

The sun was reaching its zenith the following day when they began to crest a steep hill. It overlooked a small valley with a river threading through the landscape. Kivan picked out a vantage point with sufficient tree cover to hide their presence from searching eyes. Once there, Faldorn stood with her arms crossed, glaring at the sprawling man-made structure in the valley. She looked as though she wanted nothing more than to torch the place.

"There it is," she all but spat.

Kivan shielded his eyes from the afternoon glare as he scanned the place. Tall wooden planks had been erected for fence in what seemed to be sizeable barracks, stables and a storehouse, which looked fairly new even from a distance. Beyond the storehouse, the path narrowed into a plank bridge which spanned over a potion of the river, leading to a large, elevated structure with cranks and cogs. Judging from the design and colouring, that part of the complex seemed much older than the rest. Glancing around, he realised that the Cloakwood Mines was exclusively underground, unlikely the Nashkel mines which had a quarry on the outside.

"Dwarven make," he concluded.

"Just as you suspected from the start," said Xan as he flicked a look toward Jaheira.

Jaheira merely clenched her jaw.

The barracks could probably house dozens of guards and mercenaries while the storehouse appeared sufficient to store food for an entire village. But since everything else was underground, there was no telling how many people could possibly be in the mines.

"How many people are in there?" Khalid asked Faldorn.

"We've lost count," she replied with a shrug. "Dozens, maybe a hundred by now. Men in metal armour, men in rags and loincloths, sometimes we see a few men in robes wander the perimeter." She shook her head. "We let them have their way for too long."

"How often do caravans come to ship out the ore?" Xan queried.

"Once a tenday, thereabouts. The last caravan left about five days ago, a big one. It came laden with people, but it left with ore."

Elene shot a worried glance at Kivan. He ignored her. He needed to be sure the half-ogre was no longer in the Mines. Otherwise, he would need to rethink his next steps. This wild goose chase had gone on for long enough.

A brown squirrel came bounding out from the undergrowth and suddenly paused at Faldorn's feet. Its large dark eyes stared up at her, as if waiting for something. Curious, she studied it for a moment before dropping into a crouch.

"Who is that? Laskal? You should bring the others here."

The squirrel cocked its head to one side, as though thinking, then skittered back the way it came from.

"That was weird," muttered Imoen.

Faldorn settled herself at the base of a tree in a meditative stance. Then she frowned at them. "We will wait for the others."

Elene and Imoen exchanged bemused looks before settling down for the wait. After a moment, Xan and Coran joined them. Jaheira and Khalid remained unmoving as they waited, their eyes never straying far from their guide.

They were not idle for long.

Kivan observed as eight druids approached the hill, Seniyad at their head. The squirrel Faldorn spoke to zipped ahead of the group, coming to a halt close to her. Then, the air around the creature seemed to shift before the squirrel shifted into a man, crouched on all fours. He straightened up, stretching his shoulders as he did. They recognised him as the other druid accompanying Seniyad in the morning before they left the grove. He was a kindlier looking fellow than his brethren, his golden hair streaked with grey like Seniyad.

"Laskal," Faldorn nodded at him.

"Where is Takiyah?" he asked, glancing at each of them in turn.

Faldorn dropped her gaze. "The wyvern took him."

Laskal sighed. "And the circle grows smaller each day."

"It saddens me to hear this. Takiyah will be mourned, and we will give him proper rites," remarked Seniyad as he reached their group. Then he turned to Jaheira. "But since Faldorn remains hale, it seems you have met your end of the bargain. How many wyverns did you slay?"

"There were only two at the cave, both adults. They have been killing more than what they need to survive, that much was clear," she replied.

Laskal and Seniyad exchanged looks. "Then it is a matter of finding the hatchlings and making sure they can survive, to replace those that are lost. We hope the natural order can be resumed once these Iron Throne rabble are removed from these woods," Laskal remarked, gesturing at the installation.

"And now to the matter at hand." Seniyad canted his head at Khalid and Jaheira. "We are prepared to fulfil our end of the deal. Would you like to hear what we know of the base so far?"

"We're listening," Khalid replied.

As Seniyad explained the lay of the land, it became clear to Kivan that no single party of adventurers could take on this challenge alone. The installation is a legacy of the dwarven Orothiar clan, who operated out of the Cloakwoods centuries ago, until disaster struck. In their quest for yet more iron, they breached the underground riverbed and flooded the entire mine, which consisted of multiple sub-levels dwarven tunnels. Only a small handful of the clan made it out alive and they fled soon after. Over time, the structures surrounding the mines fell apart and the land was reclaimed by the forest, just as nature intended.

Now, the Iron Throne had pumped out all the water from the tunnels. Seniyad was unsure precisely how many sublevels lay below the surface, but he wagered there could up to three or four, given the number of people who had gone into those mines of late. As expected, the guards lived in the barracks when they were off shift, but the miners were kept almost exclusively underground.

"These guards…they are almost all humans, yes?" Elene asked as she mulled things over.

"Yes." Seniyad's lips quirked. "You are considering a night assault, perhaps?"

"That worked the last time," she replied, looking to Jaheira.

"We don't have the same numbers as the last time, child," Jaheira reminded her.

"On the contrary," Laskal smirked, "You likely have more."

Jaheira frowned. "You plan to use animals to assault? It would be a bloodbath."

"We know we cannot win a frontal battle with these men," Seniyad stepped in. "Perhaps, we could enlist the help of our wild brothers and sisters for a diversion, and nothing more." He smiled thinly. "And a little fire on their wooden structures while they sleep to keep it interesting."

"I presume while this is going on, another group would be heading underground to cut off the head of the snake?" Xan remarked mildly.

"And pray tell, how would this group get out without getting their own heads cut off?" Jaheira asked in turn.

"A wooden bridge connects the barracks to the mines," Seniyad answered. "There is another gate on the other side, used to ship out the ore. But it is unwieldy and not heavily guarded thus far. Once you get to the other side and disable the gate, we can collapse the bridge. Then you will only have to contend with foes within the mines."

Coran tugged at his collar. "If there are three sublevels underneath, could be more barracks down there. You'd be shaking up an entire hive of ants before you know it." He looked around nervously. "Much as I love a good thrill, seems like a death wish to go in blind. Not quite what I signed up for."

"You are free to remain here, if you wish," Jaheira told him in a faux-saccharine tone.

"Excellent suggestion, I can be part of the distraction," he winked, ignoring her sarcasm. "Give me a good perch and I can take out a dozen guards before they even realise I'm there."

"Looks like we have a plan," Elene concluded, her face grim.

"Hear me, Jaheira," Seniyad raised a hand. "To drain the water out, they would have plugged the old breach. But the breach is still there. No matter what happens, you will find it, and one way or another, you will unleash the river upon them. This mine cannot be allowed to exist."

"We will try. As soon as we get the miners out," she countered, her chin raised in defiance.

Seniyad shook his head, his countenance darkening. "If you fail to do so, we will do it ourselves. Regardless of who remains within."

Kivan observed the shocked looks of his companions, but he wasn't surprised by the old druid's admission. He'd implied as much from the beginning. Taking a deep breath, the ranger gazed out at the installation. He didn't mind the ultimatum so much. If Tazok was down there somewhere, he would flood the mines himself.

Regardless of who remains within.

Author's note:

Finally, we get into the Cloakwood Mines. It's likely to get a bit dark, literally and figuratively, so hang on to your hats, folks.