(Note: I had no original intention of going on with this story but I had so many pleading reviews that I've decided to warm to this subject again and hit you all with a Super Brit character for badgering me. So there!")

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Havez squinted up at the sunlight directly overhead, frowned and then casually knocked back the rest of the tankard he was holding in his left hand. With a shrug he turned his attention back to the pack train directly before them. The trail of donkeys and mules trudged through the dirt path sedately. Dragging the caravan behind them with the mournful found of clanging bells.

The leaves on the trees around them were golden, some brown and others a deep blood red. Many carpeted the floor of the woods, others drifting down to join them. For autumn the day was hot and they all rode without the woollen clothes they had brought with them.

"Anyone for some nice fresh Mead or Alex?" The wizard asked factiously, looking back over his shoulder at the others.

He was the only one of their party so relaxed. Everyone else, Xana excluded who seemed not to be bothered, was wearing a thick white strip of clothes to shield their eyes from the light of day.

After so long in the dark tunnels of Ygg-chall, learning the magic of the elements from Raelag the light of the sun hurt their eyes badly. Two years had past since Sareth had fled into the tunnels to escape the cultists and now that he was approaching his twentieth birthday, he had decided to indulge himself and grow a short beard. Xana said she found it made him look distinguished while Leanna had voiced the opinion that it gave him the appearance of a disreputable pirate.

In point of fact Sareth was grow thing a beard not for any sense of style, but because he wanted to alter his appearance enough so any member of the demon cult that saw him might think him someone else at first glance.

Lethos shot Havez a glare from the back of his own ride, not a horse but one of the strange reptilian creatures that the dark elves rode in place of them. It was a sedate beast with pale green scales and it plodded along either side of the caravan without even looking at the mules. They however kept their eyes on it in case it decided that they might indeed be something worth eating.

"You're destroying your liver." The dark elf commented dryly, adjusting his own blindfold. The binds were not so thick that they could see through them but they blocked out most of the painful light. It would take them a while, Leanna had assured them, but their eyes would readjust to normal light again.

"Possibly." Havez replied with a grin. "But it is MY liver. So I'll leave yours to you and you leave mine to me if you please." He reached back for another bottle to fill his tankard, the glass rattling in a small crate behind him.

Their company was larger then when they had arrived. Sareth rode on the caravan itself along with Xana and Leanna, while Havez drove the caravan and Lethos rode along side.

The gremlin, Graug, who had for some reason chosen the most bad tempered mule they had for a ride, had rode off down the road to scout ahead.

Behind them, trudging along with his thick armour clanking, was their teacher Adrastos the minotaur.

Outside the confining tunnels of Ygg-chal they could all appreciate how massive he truly was, his muscle bulging under his short brown fur. The training he had put them through to learn even the basics of elemental mastery had been brutal and there had been times when Sareth had actually thought he meant to kill them. He had discharged fireballs, lightning bolts, frost balls, eldritch arrows and all other manner of magical attacks at them and combined that with his own skills with wielding his two massive axes which he now had clung in a cross over his back.

Sareth had been at an advantage during those sessions as he had been a recently graduated mage and was able to pick up enough to avoid anything more then a few cuts and bruises. Leanna did well too and while Xana seemed slow to learn magic she picked it up soon.

Lethos was the one who suffered the most from the training, being battered back and forth like a rag doll almost each and every day. The dark elf took it without rancour and actually seemed cheerful throughout, even though several times a week he was dizzy and confused from a blow their training master had dealt him.

Sareth was not in a position to comment on the effectiveness of the training methods but regardless of their pumps and bruises they were now proficient in elemental magic, able to deflect magic away depending on the element cast at them.

As soon as Adrastos had grudgingly announced them adequate, Raelag had given them a mission; to further his goal in rooting out the demon cult.

"It's called a Shantiri crystal." The lord of the Shadowbrand had told them, unrolling a scroll and laid it out on the table in front of him, placing decanters and candles to hold it down. In a very fine, almost spidery hand was a diagram of a large object about a foot long. It was a shard with two jagged points at the top and bottom, thickening only slightly in the middle.

"I read about them." Leanna had added, looking over the display. "My uncle used to write theoretical papers for the Silver cities high council."

Sareth, whose blank confused expression must have told them of his total ignorance on the subject, had to be briefly educated.

"They are crystals reportedly used by the great, ancient wizard Sar-Elam." Raelag said, tapping the picture with one finger. "According to legend there were three such crystals that he shared between his two disciples, Sar-Issus and Sar Shazzar. With the three crystals in the hands of the three wizards there they near invincible in magical might."

Sareth wondered why he had not heard of such a thing during his education under Phenrig, but only frowned when he realised it was yet another thing his former master had not told him.

"I thought they were merely legends." Lethos said.

"We can glad most of the world things so." Raelag replied. "Unfortunately these three artefacts are very real and even worse I have reason to believe that both the Demon cult and Arantir are pursuing them."

That got their immediate attention. Even throughout their studies none of them had forgotten that they had a score to settle with the Necromancer for the role he played in the death of Leanna's uncle, the sorcerer Menelag.

"Arantir talked of the crystals when he was here." Raelag went on. "And after he departed I had his statehouse examined and I found various texts on the subject. Additionally the outer, frontier clans like the Soulscar have been making inquires about them as well. Since the Soulscar are confirmed allies of the demon cultists I can only draw the conclusion that this is a race between the necromancers and the cultists to acquire them."

"To what purpose?" Lethos asked, shrewder then the rest of them. "What good would these crystals do any of them if they only worked in the presence of those three long dead wizards?"

Raelag shook his head with a frown.

"I don't know." He admitted. Sareth's mind raced back to that abortive break in to Arantir's mansion and that book he had read, that mention of something called the 'Skull of Shadows' and began to wonder if Raelag was telling them all he knew. "But I do not wish to risk finding out the hard way. If we can claim one crystal then we may see where matters stand."

Leanna was surprised.

"You know where one is?" She asked with her eyes wide. Raelag nodded and then turned to face a large map across the back of his chamber wall. It showed all of Ashan in brilliant detail. Sareth frowned at the sight of the borders of the Griffin Empire which had greatly expanded since he had come to Ygg-chal. The free holdings on the border of Irollan where he had grown up were now claimed by the empire, along with a sizeable chunk in the east.

"I still cringe at the price such information cost me." Raelag began as he looked up. "But I have learned that one of these crystals has been unearthed in the deep mines of the Winterwind clan of Grimheim."

Far to the north of the lands of the human nations was a jagged and twisted peninsula that jutted out almost to the frozen arctic. This was Grimheim, a frozen cold land and the fiercely protected territory of the Dwarves.

Phenrig had given Sareth at least a decent education about the short statured race, including their customs, believes and traditions.

"You don't want us to go get it do you?" Lethos asked, suddenly looking apprehensive as well he might. The Dark elves were at war with the dwarves along the frontier of the northern caverns and any Dark elf that set foot in their territory, even for honest reasons, was at risk of reprisals from patriotic dwarves. As it was his fears were quickly realised.

"Yes, my pupil that is precisely what I want you to do." Raelag confirmed with a savage, evil grin at Lethos evident dismay. "I want you to travel to Grimheim, go down into those mines and retrieve the crystal. Return it here to me if you cant but if circumstances are not ideal you are to destroy it."

And so that was that. Departing from the caverns for the first time in years, Sareth began his first mission against the demon cults activities.

Adrastos had been sent along with them as a bodyguard and to bolster their cover story of being a band of prosperous travelling traders from Talonguard.

As for the wizard Havez and his gremlin companion, their participation in this mission had been made necessary by the fact that they were the only ones with a pack train willing to go to Grimheim in Ygg-chall. Most dark elf merchants were not willing to venture about ground until the current unrest in the Griffin Empire had died down.

Their caravan came up to a crossroads and Graug was waiting for them there, sitting leisurely on his donkeys back by a signpost. His animal looked haggard as if he had run a long way.

"Into the ale already?" He asked as Havez drew the mule train to a stop. "You might have at least waited for me until you broke open a bottle." The little reptilian creature sounded injured.

"It's quite a hot day for autumn." Havez remarked, pulling his orange turban down to shade his eyes. It was the only thing he was using to protect his eyesight. "And I got thirsty."

Graug frowned and made a 'gimmie gimmie' gesture. Havez tossed him a bottle and the gremlin drank gustily from it, paused to belch and then threw the bottle into the long grass at the side of the road.

"What is on ahead?" Adrastos asked, striding up alongside the caravan. His voice echoed inside his solid steel muzzle. Standing next to him, Sareth saw with some amusement that Graug was about the size of the Minotaur's hand.

"We're about ten leagues from Horncrest." The gremlin replied, deliberately trying not to look at the massive creature. Sareth got the impression that he was not at all comfortable in the minotaur's presence. He did not blame him if he was, he himself was apprehensive around their strict and brutal training master. "If we carry on all day we should make it by nightfall."

Lethos reached back for the satchel on the side of his beasts mount and pulled out his map. Getting down off his ride he came over to the caravan and laid it down on the wooden surface, pulling up his blindfold and shielding his eyes with his hand while he looked at it.

They had been travelling for a week now since they had left the caverns and had travelled north for some distance with only a vague idea of where they were.

"We're getting closer." Leanna said; pointing to a settlement marked 'Horncrest'. It was the town they had been aiming to reach, a garrison settlement nearly directly on the border with Grimheim. As the dwarves had sealed all the underworld entrances to their domain, approaching it by land was their only option.

"We've got a problem though." Graug warned them seriously. "There are soldiers camped all around the city, a large Imperial army." All of them turned to look at him sharply and the gremlin shrugged. "I'm no judge to military operations but they look like they mean business. I saw griffins amongst the men too."

This was bad news. Griffins were powerful beasts that the empire only used if they were planning to do battle with some major force.

"They're not planning on going to war with the Dwarves are they?" Leanna asked, looking puzzled. Xana stayed quiet, looking thoughtful and grim but not at all surprised. Sareth looked at her out of the corner of her eye.

"Why don't you ask them?" Graug replied back with a grin. "I'm sure they'd be willing to let their plans be known to curious person who passes by."

Adrastos, who had ignored the banter, looked up from the map towards the trail leading north east. He snorted and scratched at one armpit.

"Is the city until control by the army?" He asked.

"Not that I could see. They weren't keeping the regular travelling out of the gates at any rate."

"Then we should just travel on to the city and see what's happening." Lethos suggested. "If they're stopping people from crossing the border then we can find another way around then."

"And if they decide they want to mess with us?" Havez asked sceptically. The wizard seemed to have a somewhat pessimistic outlook on most situations. Lethos grinned evilly at him and drummed his fingers.

"I have a few potions that will make a sudden death look quite natural." Even after learning some magic the dark elf assassin retained more faith in his poisons.

Adrastos waved a large hand dismissively.

"It would be best to avoid fighting whenever possible."

When they started out again, Havez rode in the wagon while Leanna took her turn to drive the pack train. This left Sareth alone in the back with Xana.

"Are you alright?" He asked in a low voice. The young woman started as if caught in a day dream and forced herself to look more alert.

"I am fine." She said but there was a hint of fear in her voice that after so long he had known her he could not miss. He stared her down and in the direct path of his steady gaze she relented.

"I feel it drawing closer." She said in almost a whisper.

"What?"

"My punishment."

"Punishment?"

She looked up at him.

"I disobeyed them… I disobeyed Him. These last two years have been a reprieve for me, nothing more. It's only a matter of time until they come for me."

Sareth had never pressed this matter before but not he felt he must.

"Who will come for you?" He asked, leaning forward intently. Her dark eyes met his and she trembled.

"Him Sareth… him. Don't make me say his name."

Over the past two years Sareth had done all he could to learn about the subject of demonology from Raelag and when Xana, a sprit creature bound to serve the cultists said… him… there could be only one person she was referring to.

He leaned back and ran a hand over his face. Even he did not want to say that name.

"I won't let him get you Xana." He said firmly. "He will have to come to me first."

She looked back at him with something very much like pity in her eyes but also gratitude and affection.

"Dear Sareth." She said. "You he will not destroy… he needs you. But you can not protect me. The only thing that stops me from being snuffed out like a candles flame is his preoccupation with other matters. As soon as his attention falls on me I will be undone."

As if seeking reassurance she held out her hand almost unconsciously and he held it tightly in his own.

They rode on for several hours in contemplative silence, putting the woods behind and riding out into farm land. It was harvest time and many men were out in the fields. Sareth paused as he watched them and then realised his mistake. The workers in the fields only looked like men from a distance.

As they drew nearer he saw them for what they really were, Orcs.

They were just as his studies had told him. They were tall, heavily build and orange skinned, their shade varying from a deep yellow to almost blood red and they had patched of darker skin all over their bodies.

Others were smaller, smaller even then a human child and wiry build. They had large ears on either side of almost tiny heads. These Sareth recognised too as Goblins and Graug made a special point of not looking at them as he rode by.

All the workers looked hallow cheeked and scrawny. They were dirty and gaunt and an atmosphere of broken spirits hung around them. Peasants in red smokes marched between the fields overseeing the work and occasionally some of them paused to stick a cruel pike they carried into any of the Orcs or Goblins they seemed to think not working hard enough. The clinging of chains binding the ankles of the slaves were audible even from that distance.

The Empire was wildly regarded outside its domain of being a hypocrite for preaching the justice of Elrath while at the same time capturing other sentient creatures and forcing them to work in the mines and fields. The entire Imperial economy was propped up on the backbones of such coerced servitude.

They carried on through the fields trying not to look.

When an Orc on the other side of a wooden fence turned to look at them, Adrastos met his gaze. The two of them stopped to stare at each other in grim silence and something seemed to pass between them, the kind of recognition shared between beings forced to serve others.

The Orc grunted and then turned to get back to work and the Minotaur carried on tocatch up with the others.

As the sun was setting they caught sight of the city of Horncrest. By now the light was dim enough that they could remove their blindfolds.

In and of itself, the city was not anything that special. It was a fairy standard farming community with a castle to garrison it against attack. What made it stand out was the massive military encampment surrounding the walls, just as Graug had described. Hundreds of tents were pitched in rows leading off for perhaps half a mile and there was a great many men walking amongst them, sunlight glinting off armour.

Stacked here and there were the bundles of lumber that eventually would be put together to form siege weapons.

Sareth judged their numbers to be perhaps over ten thousand strong. Past the encampment and the city were two sheer granite cliffs rising on either side of mountain ranges that were only just visible through the fading light of day. A calley ran between these cliffs and barring it was a massive wall; rising near as high as the cliffs themselves.

"The Red Stone wall of Arkath." Lethos commented slummy, gesturing to it with a nod of his head. "The fortress that defends the only above ground way of entering the lands of the Dwarves."

Sareth stared at the impossible large wall and then at the army below and could not help but feel uneasy, as if a clash was imminent and unavoidable.

"Let's get into the city then." Lethos suggested. "Before someone decides to conscript us."

Slowly they began down the dusty lane leading towards the city gates.

"Tally ho!" The silence they had endured was shattered by that loud exclamation and Sareth looked up in alarm, just in time to throw himself and Xana flat as a ballista bolt came wising through the air to fly directly over their heads and crash with a defending crunch into an unoffending tree.

The mules and donkeys bleated in alarm and it took the combined efforts of Havez and Leanna to calm them.

Adrastos snarled in enraged fury and reached back over his shoulder, taking a hold of one massive axe in his hand.

"Stand down there!" Sareth struggled back up to see that riding towards them from the encampment were several men on horseback. Most of them were paladins, men in gleaming armour of steel and gold with mounted eagles atop their helmets.

Their leader wore somewhat less extravagant and more practical armour and had no helmet. His head was chestnut down and long to his shoulders; tied back into a pony tail.

He reigned in before their wagon.

"Terrible sorry dear chaps." He said apologetically, seeing how distressed they were. His paladins moved to put themselves between him and the clearly still enraged Minotaur. "Just trying a shot on my new ballista but it went wide. Should never had fired off the thing with travellers about, wot wot."

His method of speech was so quick and eccentric Sareth almost did not follow it. Close up he could see the red sash that identified the man as a noble of high rank.

"No no its fine." Leanna said, acting quicker then the rest of them. "We were just startled is all."

"Startled!" Graug asked in a strangled voice. "We could have been killed!" The gremlin was kicked to one side by Havez. The stranger squinted at each of them in turn.

"Blimey, you're all an odd bunch and a half." He remarked with a strange sort of smile and then he rubbed his gloved hands. "Tell you what, why don't I make it up to the lot of you? You all look tired and travel stained. Come on down and let you share my pavilion for the night."

Leanna hesitated and glanced back to the others.

"Oh damn my eyes, where are my manners?" The man smacked a hand into his forehead. "Can't just offer that without making introductions. Duke Vittorio the 3rd at your service." He offered his hand and Leanna shook his for them.

"We're travelling merchants of the Ashan trading consortium." Lethos put in, offering forward their cover story. "I'm Sothel, overseer of this modest troupe."

"Ruddy good show old chaps." Duke Vittorio said with a grin shaking the dark elves hand in turn. "Always liked you traveller types, going whither and yon to sell your wares. Adventures in foreign lands and all that."

Adrastos looked the duke up and down and then slowly slide his axe back into his place on his back, apparently finally satisfied that they were not attacked on purpose. In fact Vittorio seemed eager to please and placate them for the accident. Past him Sareth could see the ballista in question, a rather large assembly of ropes and wood shaped like a cross bow. It was on the edge of the encampment some distance away. Then the young man glanced back over his shoulder at the tree and saw that the ballista bolt was stuck right through the truck, limbs and large pieces of bark lying scattered in all directions.

The range of the weapon had to prodigious in order to make that sort of damage at this distance.

"Well my lord, your offer is most generous and gracious." Leanna began.

"Splendid!" Vittorio cut her off without seeming to even realise he was doing it, turning his horse around. "I'll have the tea steaming hot for the whole bally lot of you and we can share all the gossip of the road."

Before any of them could argue, the paladins moves to flank them and escort them down towards the encampment.

"Well we might get better information about crossing the border with him." Lethos remarked in a whisper to the rest of them. "I can always slip him something in his food to make him forget we're even there."

So they resigned themselves and were guided down towards the tents and the enveloping Imperial army by the eccentric duke.

"What's tea?" Sareth asked in a whisper to Graug. The gremlin's ears drooped as a depressed expression crossed his face.

"Not worth drinking." He replied dismally.