Part 12

It was noon the next day when Eirika and Quescent finally reached the camp, the other party members had set the camp up outside Chillwind Valley. The camp was set on a jet of rock in the side of a cliff, the platform was only about 6 feet off the group, but it felt like the safest place at the time.

They had four tents that were heated on the inside by magic, they were positioned corresponding to the four directions of the compass, north, south, east, and west. There was a large fire built at the focal point, which had a pig roasting over it, the fire contained several dozen imps Tearie and Ashalind had summoned which emitted a flaming aura that continued to cook the pig as the pig on the spit.

All-in-all they had seven people there already, with Eirika and Quescent there were nine people assembled on the ledge. Quescents' job, once they got there, was to fortify the runes that Tearie had already drawn. "There, that should do it." Quescent said, turning to Tearie for approval afcter he finished with the last rune. "But, the north-eastern corner is a little bit, weak, don't you think? Maybe I should put another rune there incase that rune doesn't hold." "No no, it'll be fine. I drew the rune myself, nothing will get past it." Tearie said, replying to Quescent.

Once Quescent was done, the whole company sat down to a dinner of pork lightly seasoned with silverleaf, rum from the local town, and some snow radishes Ashalind found while she was looking for a river to use for dousing the fire in the morning.

After dinner the company was merrily chatting and telling stories, all but one of them, Eirika. She was still going over things in her mind, something didn't add up, she couldn't figure out what it was, but there was something. Then it hit her! Why didn't she think of it before? But Eirika had one more thing she needed to know before she was absolutely sure of it.

"So, Tearie" Eirika said, in a louder than usual voice, hoping to got everyone's attention. "Could you continue telling us what happened in Gnomeregan, you got disrupted in Darkshire when the buildings started to shake."

Looking around, Tearie realized everyone's' eyes were on her, everyone was waiting for her to continue telling her story. "What are you waiting for? We all want to know why you weren't killed just like your priest friend, how you got away, oh, and how you closed the rift as well."

"Oh, yes, I forgot about that, of course. So, like I was saying, two troggs stepped out of the rift…" gasping Ashalind jumped up and ran over to the body of the young man who had stumbled into the fire light and collapsed.

The young man had sandy blond hair, and penetrating blue eyes. He was tall, and he looked as if someone had taken a skeleton and simply dipped it in skin colored paint; it was obvious he had not eaten in days. The only clothes he had on were hanging ragged off his thin limbs, he looked as if he had been in isolation for years.

"He is horribly dehydrated; he has sunburns all over his body, he hasn't eaten in days, he collapsed from exhaustion, I have done what I can, but he will need to rest for the better part of three days before he will show any signs of recovery." It was about an hour later and Thundabolt had just emerged from the tent that the company moved the man to. "Okay, Quescent will take first watch, Ashalind will take second, Slider will take third, and Lykan will take fourth. Everyone else, get some sleep, you will need it for tomorrow." Eirika had taken charge of what the company would do, she knew someone had too, and everyone else seemed shaken by what had happened.

"Good thing nothing happened during Quescent's shift." Ashalind was thinking to herself while she sat there, listening to the owls hooting, the leaves rustling, and the wolves howling at the full moon. "I wish something would happen, no one thinks I can handle anything, just because I am the youngest. I don't care what they think! I am going to prove to them I can handle just as much as they can!" at the precise moment she heard a loud swoosh as a tent flap was thrown back, and the pattering of a human running in the cold snow. So off Ashalind went, chasing the young man whom they had found earlier in the day.

"How could I have let this happen? First I was chasing him, then I rounded a corner, and he was gone! Oh, they are going to kill me for this! Oh…" Ashalind was talking to herself as she made her way slowly back to the camp, she had just spent hours trying to find the young man, but he seemed to have just vanished into thin air.

"You know, I thought the ledge right here, Past the forked oak tree by the river. Aye, that's where it was, but, there's nothing here?" she looked at the gap between the tree branches where they had hung the remains of the pig they had eaten for dinner, and there it hung, though the flies were starting to buzz around it.

"There's the ledge, I can see the remains of the fire, but what's that?" She rushed up to the top of the ledge. And found the charred remains of four tents, one at each point of the compass, upon stepping farther back, she gasped and ran as fast as she could off the ledge. Looking in amazement, she circled the raised platform as best she could, and everywhere she looked, she saw the same thing.

It's very hard to describe what Ashalind saw at this moment, but I will do my best to describe. There was a circle covered with runes, inside the circle was a very large rune that covered the interior of the circle.

Ashalind realized immediately what the rune on the interior of the circle was, a rune of teleportation. Only mages are supposed to be able to use these, but Ashalind had heard legends of a powerful magic, and if one possessed that magic, they could use the runes without needing training by the mages of Ironforge.

It took her more than a few minutes to figure out the runes outside the circle, it was a circle of binding, nothing could get in, and nothing could get out. Circling around she saw that in north-eastern corner the rune had been partially washed away. The empty bucket she had used to carry water from the river laying a foot or two away from the washed out rune.

Ashalind realized, after thinking it over, that there was a traitor in the group; and Ashalind knew who it was.

To Be Continued…