* VI *

The tunnel behind the door at the far end of the mines was deserted, but Elantar could tell they weren't entirely alone.

"Can you feel that heat?" she asked her companions. They all could. Something particularly warm awaited them.
"Frowa barrall!" Buttercup suggested.
"What?" chorused several of the party.
"There are no more barrels," Gravak answered her.
"Froawa Gnome den!" she decided. Before anyone could react, Boshley was hoisted off of his feet and launched along the tunnel. He bounced several times along the passage and came to a stop about half way along with a huge crash.

There was a guttural rumble from the far end of the tunnel, and then stillness. In Eldarion's absence, it was solely down to Elantar to check the path now; part of her enjoyed this, but there was a definite bitterness to the situation nonetheless. For one thing, she'd likely be putting herself in more danger.

The silence continued for more than a minute before Elantar crept forward, past the Gnome who had regained his feet. She reached a heavy door at the far end. Stubbornly, the silence continued, but the heat had increased somewhat. Gravak, Buttercup and Boshley had all began to join her when she waved them still.
"The door's rigged," she whispered back to them.

She was about to examine it more closely when it was suddenly open; a gnarled beast stood over her cackling maniacally. It was both entirely like and unlike an Ogre: its size and bearing similar to the beasts they had come here to hunt, but its scales, horns and scarlet colouring set it quite apart.
"Elantar!" Someone had called out to her: it was the last thing she heard before passing out.

The next thing she saw was Coralyn's sympathetic grin.
"I thought we'd lost you that time," she said in greeting.
"What happened?" she asked, trying to gain her bearings.
"The roof came down," she answered, "must have been the door opening triggering a trap. Gravak pulled you out."

She looked around to find the Cleric, but he was in the thick of it, fighting the Ogre-thing that had ambushed them.
"I need to get up," Elantar announced in sudden realisation.
"Give yourself a minute, you've had a serious head wound," Coralyn ordered. "Arden's hurt too, but you were more serious. Don't rush into the fight." Elantar tried to stand, but the tunnel seemed to spin about her. The Healer gave a knowing look and a sympathetic smile before turning her attention to Arden's injuries.

Most of the party had been hurt badly by falling rock. It was Buttercup's Gnome tossing that had given them away and made this fight much harder than it had needed to be. The two of them were facing off against the enemy now, hopefully determined to make amends for their mistake.

Taldir chanted and held out his hands. Flame engulfed the Ogre, and obscured it from sight for a couple of seconds. When the flames dissipated, it roared with laughter and continued. It seemed totally impervious to the heat.

She tried to stand again. This attempt proved more successful, and she edged forwards to get a better look at the enemy. Something about it reminded her of a dragon. "Impossible…" she decided.

Gravak retreated from the fight and raised his arms. He uttered a short cant, and several gallons of water appeared just beyond the Ogre where a fire was raging. It was soon extinguished, and for the second time in as many days, they were both beset and obscured by huge clouds of steam. The cover gave her a chance to join the fight, and she leapt in with both swords drawn. Whatever it was that they were fighting, it didn't last much longer, as Buttercup landed the final blow that felled it.

Everyone assembled in the new room. Some kind of throne sat on the far side, carved from solid rock with intricate engravings decorating its surface. Next to where the fire had been blazing sat a huge pile of coins. Everybody paused and looked at it for a few silent seconds.
"There are thousands…" Gravak began.
"We can use the sacks that they had upstairs and take as much as we can," Arden suggested. "It'd take hours to separate and count it all here."

"What are these strange markings on the floor?" Coralyn asked from a corner of the room.
"Runes?" Taldir asked as he joined Elantar to investigate. "No," he observed when he reached what she was inspecting.
"Quarter circles in the dust. Looks to me like the sort of shape a door would make," Elantar suggested.
"That's what I was wondering," Coralyn answered, "but there's no door that I could see."

Elantar studied the wall carefully. She was baffled. There was surely a door here; the markings on the floor gave it away. Trying to find the outline, or any kind of opening mechanism proved impossible. She was confident that, if she couldn't, none of her companions would find it.

"Can we go now?" Arden asked irritably.
"No! We examine this room," Taldir demanded. "There must be some way of opening this door." Frustrated, Arden exhaled loudly and threw herself down on the throne. Taldir waited expectantly, looking to the wall, and then frowned when nothing happened.

After a minute or so, Arden took out her flute and began to play Sighs of Yesteryear while the rest of the party searched in vain for a way to open the mystery door.

"Got it!" Elantar exclaimed after a couple of minutes. Her fingers had brushed against a crack that seemed altogether too straight. A little investigation with her dagger revealed its edge, and once it was exposed, a gentle tug saw the huge stone door swing slowly outwards.
"Where does it go?" Boshley asked with a squeak.
"Down?" Arden suggested. It was dark, but they could tell that the climb was incredibly steep and the surface of the tunnel looked smooth. It would be hard going for most of them to get down there.

"I'll have a look," Elantar offered, knowing that she wouldn't find the descent as difficult as the others. She could hear nothing as she carefully began to make her way down. Part way, she began to make out a faint grey glow shimmering somewhere below. Carefully and sure-footed, she descended, reaching the bottom within a minute or so. The tunnel levelled out and led through an open doorway. Intricate stone carvings, similar to those on the throne above them, were visible on an arched frame around the opening.

She froze. A voice had set her on alert, and she instinctively slunk into the shadows.
"Return it to us…"
It seems like thousands of voices were whispering.
"The Eisenkern…" some in unison, others overlapping and talking over one another.
"It has been stolen, not destroyed!"
She heard the same words in the common tongue; in Elvish; in Giant;
"Hidden. Find the Eisenkern…" in Sylvan, Orcish and other tongues…
"Must not be destroyed…" many that she couldn't understand, but she could guess what they were saying.
"The Eisenkern… Return it to us!" The voices were repeating the same words endlessly. She had no idea how long they had been speaking, or if anyone had ever heard them before. She wanted desperately to leave, but felt somehow compelled to enter the room.

She peered around the door. It was more-or-less empty. A shattered statue littered the floor, as if it had been toppled and had broken apart where it fell. A Kobold warrior lay dead in one corner; on closer inspection, it wasn't all that long deceased.

Strange patterns were carved into the floor, forming a perfect circle in the centre of the room. The voices seemed to be coming from here. She was drawn towards it before snapping back to attention and fleeing. She began to climb, her breath rising in panic. The voices continued to ring in her ear.

"What do you want?!" she snapped, turning as she screamed at the room.
"Stolen, not destroyed! The Eisenkern… Return it to us…" was the only response she heard. She gritted her teeth in frustration and resumed her climb.

A rope landed just above her, and then uncoiled to the bottom of the slope. Gravak stood at the summit, fastening the other end to something in the room. She didn't need the rope to climb, but it made the journey quicker. As she ascended, she found that it was in fact several ropes attached together.

"Some of us will need this if we're going down," Gravak said, helping her back into the throne room.
"You OK Elantar?" Arden asked. "You look a bit shaken."
"I'm, uh…" she began.
"What did you find?" questioned Taldir.
"There's… there's nothing down there," she lied. "Just a broken statue or something. We should go. Shut the door."
"Nonsense," Taldir demanded. "I'm taking a look myself. We have a rope set up now."
"Shut the door!" Elantar screamed, looking around at Buttercup, at Gravak, at anyone who might listen. Everyone avoided her pleading eyes except Coralyn, who looked at her with concern and something that might have been understanding.
"Shut the door! Now!" she demanded again. "You're not going!" she added, and threw herself down at the top of the steep tunnel. Taldir stepped over her and began to descend. Elantar swung a leg at him and totally failed to connect. She wailed in fury.

"Elantar, what is the matter with you?!" Arden demanded, and tried to drag her away from the door. Boshley and Gravak had joined Taldir in the tunnel and were beginning to make their way down.

"Rocks!" Elantar exclaimed. "I like them…"
"Erm…" Arden responded, quite confused. "That's the floor?"
"It's pretty!" Coralyn had joined the Bard, and both were looking concerned.
"Do you think it tastes nice?" She licked the floor.
"OK, now I'm scared,' Arden declared. "If Elantar's lost it, we're all doomed."
"It's a bit dry," the Rogue spluttered.
"Elantar…" Coralyn pulled at her, trying to help her to her feet. Arden was approaching the doorway.

"How's it going down there?" she called. There was no response. "Hello?"
"I'm goin' as well," Buttercup demanded, nudging Arden aside. The Barbarian had been quite taken with the pile of coins until now, shaking water off of them and attempting to begin counting the haul.

"Arden?" A voice was calling back up the tunnel.
"Gravak!" she answered with relief. "What's going on?"
"We only just reached the bottom" he replied. "Taldir's examining something and demanding silence."
"Do you still not know what that means, Orc!?" Taldir snapped in the distance.

By the time they were all back in the throne room, Elantar had begun to nap.
"So, do you know what this Eisenkern is?" Gravak asked Taldir. The Wizard reluctantly shook his head.
"What was down there?" Arden demanded.
"Spirits. Hundreds of them; maybe thousands," he answered. They're trapped, and demanding the return of something called an Eisenkern."
"I think they've done something to Elantar," Coralyn speculated. "There's something wrong with her mind."
"She has little mind to speak of," Taldir exclaimed. "How can you be sure?"
"Has anyone ever heard her laugh?" Arden asked. The question was met with silence. "It was chilling. I'd rather not hear it again," she added.
"That's hardly proof…" Gravak began.
"She was dancing," Arden added firmly. "Can you even picture that?"
"I'll admit; that's a little concerning…" Taldir replied. "I want to go back to where we were before the mines to examine those runes," he said, clearly with other things on his mind.
"I'll come with you," Gravak offered. "Coralyn, Arden: are you OK to watch Elantar?"
"No!" Elantar snapped, leaping to her feet. "I'm coming too!" The party all looked uncomfortably at one another. Coralyn attempted to put her arm around her, but she shrugged it off and walked over to Gravak and Taldir. "You need me!" she demanded with a grin.
"I think it's just easier to let her go…" Arden relented.
"No one's letting me do anything. I'm going," she stated. "Come on!"

Gravak and Taldir followed: the former with a look of concern; the latter displaying thinly veiled amusement.