Chapter 4
Azara closed her eyes and took a deep breath, cleansing all stray thoughts from her mind. There was only room for her devotions. Bane was proud of her for finding the correct tomb – those who worshipped Oghma may have been foolish during life, but those same fools unknowingly served her after they passed. She opened her eyes; focusing and looking pass the columns on either side of the room. She knew that Bane's approval only lasted as long as she provided results. She must hurry.
At the end of the room was an extravagant tomb, decorated with roses and amethysts. Even though they were deep in a crypt, a good league underground, where no natural sunlight would shine, the grave was encompassed with a light as bright as the sun and as pink as the dawn. Azara knew to expect nothing less from the grave of a High Priestess of Lathander.
Azara was disgusted.
She glanced back at the sniveling goblins that she appointed to follow her through the crypt. Lucky little beasts, to have been allowed a chance to serve the Black Hand, she thought. They were glancing around; scratching and picking as these strange beats often do, obviously caught off guard by the remarkable room they were in. Azara scowled at these miserable creatures, but took some pride in the fact that she would soon find the pleasure of ending their miserable life. After all, she couldn't leave any witnesses to the treasure that soon awaited her. Besides with their sacrifices the goblins would continue their service to the Black Throne.
"Leave me." She said, calmly, the ice on her breath seemed to chill the back of each goblin's neck. The goblins looked at each other, hesitating and chittering their poor excuse of a language. "Do not disobey my orders!" The threatening woman screamed, furious at the lack of respect. The beasts jumped in fear before running from the room, terrified. "If I require assistance, I will find you." She called after their departing figures.
Azara took another deep breath, preparing herself for what she was about to find. She started walking towards the radiant tomb, picking up speed as she neared her destination. She was practically sprinting when she hit the wall, unable to take another step towards the tomb. It felt like an invisible stone wall, and as she smashed against it she saw a flash of gold fill her vision. The Black Guard of Bane was furious. Her body tensed, expecting another attack to come. Her mind whirled, generating ways to avoid the attack, and she wondered who was guarding this tomb.
Seconds passed however, and no attack came. Azara took a step back from the tomb, her eyes scanning the room looking for whatever barred her way. The room was empty, besides Azara. She hesitated, before attempting to move towards the tomb, but found herself in the same predicament, unable to move. Even her finger tips couldn't find any purchase on this barrier. It must be Lathandarian magicks.
"You couldn't make this easy for me, could you Lathander. It matters not, you will not stop me." She spit with fury. She knew not what barrier was protecting this tomb, and truthfully she cared not. All her mind was focused on was how to get through it. She pulled her spiked Morningstar out of her holder and started chanting her prayers to Bane. It would take determination to get to the tomb. Luckily for Azara, that was one of her greatest attributes.
"Oa ocketern atrum tribuo ohps shara per obex…" She recited from memory. As she finished her chant, she raised her weapon and smashed at the invisible force. The head of her Morningstar shimmered with energy and upon contact a thunderous crash resounded throughout the room. The barrier shimmered, but held steady.
Azara sighed, knowing that this would take a while. She started chanting once more, obedient to Bane until the end.
It was what he demanded of her.
***
"Treks tired!" The Dragonborn complained once more, looking up the trail at the women riding their horses.
"Tough." Lafayette responded curtly. "Godric only managed to find two of the horses after you failed to secure them before our battle. As such, it's only fair that she and I get to ride them."
Treks was not sure why it was his responsibility to tie up the horses. As he remembered, it he was saving his friends from the wolf. He was about to respond as such to the angry eladrin when he was interrupted by Orion.
"Let it be, Treks." He said, in Treks natural tongue. Lafayette turned to face the Deva, distrusting.
"Orion speaks Draconic?" Treks responded, again in his harsh language.
"Apparently." Orion responded, looking no less shocked than Treks felt. Orion glanced at his companions, to see them all giving him a strange look. He reverted back to the common tongue, and said "I wonder in which lifetime I picked that up?"
A cold white flash and Orion recalled a memory several centuries old. He stood back to back with a Dragonborn. She was dressed as a paladin might be. Both Orion and the mystery Dragonborn wore medallions bearing the platinum dragon of Bahamut.
Treks let out a loud laugh, recalling Orion from his reverie. The laugh sounded more akin to a noise that would terrify a child into their bed at night. The Dragonborn gave a friendly pat to Orion's back. If Orion wasn't prepared, the blow probably would've knocked him to the ground. "Treks like O!" He said, happily.
He had the feeling he had just made a new lifetime friend. Would he recall Treks centuries later, as he did his prior female companion?
***
"Well?" Vivificus asked the girl, dubiously. "Is this the right tomb?"
"Umm…" Godric said, staring intently at the ground and scratching her head. "Well, some of the goblin tracks go in. And some appear to go around it." She bent over, running her fingers into one of the tracks and walked down the path, deep in concentration, mouthing silently to herself. "But they seem to loop back around?"
"They were probably scouts, making sure they weren't followed." Orion said, grabbing a hold of Godric's horse. "Let's secure our rides this time; Jackie is going to give us enough trouble for losing three of her animals." The Deva shuddered at the thought of explaining the loss to the terrifying barkeep.
With those words, Godric's eyes lit up excited. "Ooo!" She squealed, running off into some trees.
"What is she doing now?" Vivificus asked, exasperated. As if to some silent call, the two horses whinied. Orion's muscles tightened as the horse he was holding started to run after the Druid. He grit his teeth and tried holding the beast back, but the horse won, running off into the forest, and Orion fell into the mud. Had anyone had bothered to look at the Deva, they may have noticed that not a speck of dirt seemed to stain his white robes.
Lafayette screamed as the horse she was still riding followed suit, following its companion into the brush.
As Treks was helping Orion off of the ground, the mother and daughter emerged from the grove, Godric beaming with happiness and Lafayette looking shaken, but unharmed.
"My dear Godric decided she would disguise the horses in camouflage." She looked over her shoulder. "She also told me that she told the horses not to move." The sorceress began to pull twigs and leaves out of her hair, flicking them at the ground.
Godric nodded happily at that. "It's true!"
Her mother sighed silently, still not truly understanding her daughter's talents. But she knew it made Godric happy, and that was enough for her.
Orion smiled at the duo – appearing to be polar opposites of each other, but feeling that even though Lafayette complained, that she was happier than she had been in a while. "Well then." The Deva said, gesturing to the tomb. "Shall we enter?"
***
Azara let out a grunt as her Morningstar hit the barrier once more. It's black tines tearing into the holy light of Lathander. It fluctuated, more so than it had before, but still held strong. She didn't know how much energy she had left in her, but knew better than to disappoint Bane. This was her last chance – she had disappointed her Dark Lord more than she would ever admit to a living being. She had to break through this barrier
Her blood ran cold, and she felt her Morningstar slip out of her hands and hit the stone beneath her. The echo rang down the halls with a loud clang. Her wards had activated, someone had just entered the tomb.
She wouldn't permit these trespasses to leave alive. She grabbed her mace off of the ground, and hurried out of the room to warn her goblins to be on alert. She scowled as she went down the hall, hoping the intruders did not kill any of the goblins. Not because she cared for the wretched creatures, but because she was looking forward to killing them herself.
They were just fodder, after all.
***
The five companions descended down the dark stairwell, Orion leading the way with Vivificus following closely behind him. Treks was sniffing at the air, although whether he was looking for danger or food none of his companions were sure. The women hesitantly followed. Godric swallowed deeply, fear setting in for the first time since she agreed to join the Deva's group. She realized now that she didn't truly comprehend what would be waiting for her ahead.
Lafayette sensed her daughters fear, and laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. This small gesture boosted Godric's confidence. She was happy that her mother was standing beside her today for multiple reasons. For one, her mother's presence comforted her; she knew that Lafayette loved her deeply. The second reason being that not much could stand up to the full sorceress' power she could unleash.
Orion reached the bottom of the stairs and struck a torch, illuminating the room. The room they entered was lined with tombs. There were no obvious exits from the room, save the one they just came through, and standing up against the fall wall was a statue. Orion moved towards the statue, taking care not to disturb any of the graves, and smiled brightly at the statue once he could make out the features.
"What is it?" Vivificus asked the Deva.
"Lathander… my deity. This must be a tomb for his priests." He told the swordmage.
Vivificus looked at the statue, a young man dressed in white, and his clothes lined with gold. The statue depicted him with a mace dangling off of his hip, a cloak flowing down his back and his hair held up with a circlet. His hands were outstretched in a friendly gesture, as if he was presenting something to those looking at him, even though his hands were empty.
Vivificus wasn't sure why anyone would worship a deity that appeared as weak and benevolent as this.
While the warlord was inspecting the statue, Vivificus moved around the room, his hands running across the damp stone walls, looking for anything. A trap door, a small switch, some treasure or even better, a secret door. After his inspection he turned back to the group. "Well, Godric and Orion were obviously mistaken. This is a simple tomb, nothing more. We're wasting our time here." Having said that, he started walking back towards the stairs.
"Wait." Orion said, moving the light source closer to the statue. "There's a hole in Lathander's hands… something is supposed to fit."
"Great, so the Goblins robbed this tomb. We'll get it back when we find it. Shall we go?" Vivificus started for the exit, disdainfully sheathing his trusty longsword.
Godric ignored the eladrin, and moved forward. "All these tombs are covered in dust, they've obviously been here a while. But look at this one." She ran her finger over the top of the casket, and held it up to Orion. "It's clean, as if it's been recently tampered with. Look, there are more footprints around it. They're definitely goblin tracks."
"So what goes in his hands is… in that person's grave?" Lafayette asked, disgusted.
"It's not a bad hiding spot." Godric explained. "Who would want to disturb bodies?"
Orion's face tensed. "That tomb is the eternal resting place of a Dawnbringer. We cannot open it."
Godric hesitated, picking her words carefully as to not upset Orion. "I believe Lathander would be grateful if his statue was complete again."
While the druid and warlord were having their debate, Treks moved up next to the grave. He ran his finger across the cover, bent down, and grunted and he put all of his strength against the stone cover, shoving it off of the tomb. It hit the ground and shattered. Orion turned, furious.
"What have you done!" He screamed, moving towards the Dragonborn.
"No body. Empty." Treks said, pointing down. Orion followed his finger to see that Treks was speaking the truth. There was no awakened, a worshiper of Lathander, in the casket. Instead, there was a glass rose. As Orion held up the torch to it, the rose absorbed the light source, glowing slightly and looking radiant. The deva picked the rose up, and hurried over to the statue of his god. When he placed the rose in Lathander's outstretched hands, he swore he saw Lathander's mouth turn to a smile. As a familiar twinkle appeared in the statues eyes, the stone wall behind Lafayette suddenly moved, revealing a staircase down to the deeper level. Godric turned towards Vivificus and stuck out her tongue.
"So the druid finally earns her keep." The swordmage scowled.
"Told you this was the place." She said. Before the scarred elf had a chance to respond again, Godric ran down the stairs, curious to what she would find.
***
Below, Azara heard the shattering of the stone, and knew that the companions found the rose, as she did earlier that day. The noise was soon followed by the sliding door and hurried footsteps. She knew that the intruders would be among them soon. She personally hoped that these were worshipers of Lathander. Bane would love the irony of her striking them down in their god's own domain.
The fools had no idea who they were dealing with.