I apologize once again for the length of time before this update. I was in Italy for four weeks competing and left my laptop behind (due to the horrible weight restrictions in Ryan Air). I'm afraid that my competition schedule is again packed after this short break, with two weeks in Malaysia, another two weeks in Thailand, another week here, another week there. However, I will update as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience, all of you.
Sultar
Chapter 14
A Thief's Choice
It was dark.
That was Tera's first thought as they had entered the cave, crawling up the mounds of stone to slip in above the heads of orcish sentries. It was dark, and damp, and chillingly cold.
One did not have to be an elf to detest it with growing passion.
That had been about two hours ago. Now, as they negotiated with growing trepidation the seemingly endless crevices of stone, Tera began to worry about never finding the way to the heart of the cave.
It was not so much that the cave was particularly complicated. In fact, the route ahead of them was as straightforward as one could have wished. Rather, it was the darkening of stone the deeper they ventured, the narrowing of passageway until at places orc could not be avoided any longer. And with every orc that was killed (though hidden discretely), both knew that the risk for alarm being sounded grew alarmingly. If they did not find the leader Sarn, and quickly—
That was a dark thought, and one Tera refused to engage in. Yet. Still, as they crept with tense shoulders and silent, glancing nods, Tera began to curse the snails pace they had to endure, the silent waiting as a passing orc strode through the cavern. The patience and nerve needed for stalking and assassinating a fellow man was nothing, nothing, compared to this. They were perched on a razor-edged blade of ice-smooth obsidian, and the pressure hung thick and choking in the misting moisture of dark, damp air.
Quietly, she laid a hand on Glorfindel's shoulder. The elf could only partially hide a jump, and responded with a venom-laced glare.
'What?' He mouthed, breaking the gaze to cast a wary glance at their surroundings.
'Has anyone explored this cave before?' Are you sure we're not going the wrong way, was what she decided not to ask.
'None still alive,' came the response, before the elf turned away and started forwards again.
Ah. Well that's nice. With an imperceptible sigh, she followed suit.
Truth be told, she was beginning to regret having ever started the journey to Rivendell. The dark chilling surface of stone against her palm seemed to taunt her, eroding her certainty in their ability to succeed. It may have been the dark, or the humid coldness, but Tera could swear that there was something in this cave; something which didn't want them in. She spared a glance backwards but neither saw nor felt any sign of being followed. It was simply an aura she did not like, as if the very air disgusted in their presence.
It was not long before they encountered a fork in their path, one smoothly paved into utter black nothingness, the other rocky and treacherous before them. The clichéd dilemma echoed in Tera's mind like deja-vu, and maniacal laughter bubbled in the already frazzled recesses of her brain. The idea of being trapped in this hole, this darkness, terrified the part of her not schooled into impassiveness.
And be one traveler long I stood, and looked down one as far as I could, to where it bent in the undergrowth…
…enough, enough, enough.
She caught Glorfindel's eye and he fell back to start a whispered discussion.
"The path unkempt has the tellings of a thousand-more footsteps, both heavy and weak of stride. The other has few signs of passing. That is the one I would suggest we take," the elf murmured softly.
"And I suppose orc have never heard laying down traps?" Tera questioned to a dismissive shrug from the elf.
"Orc are orc, and nothing more," he replied as he started for the path.
And nothing more, Tera snorted inwardly, a sense of foreboding strong in her mind as she consented to follow the elf.
The path was endless, but that was nothing new. It went not so much deeper into the underground, however, and at times Tera could have sworn she felt something of life beyond the stone layers around her. It was apparent that Glorfindel felt the same, for the palpable tension surrounding him eased palpable tension surrounding him eased by millimeters.
Mayhaps the darkness is abating…But she guarded herself against any loss of wariness. That was a fatal mistake, she knew, and one that perhaps could never be remedied. Anyway, if their guess was correct, and this was the way to Sarn, then there would be danger a-plenty to find lurking about.
Her thought soon seemed accurate, as both elf and human heard the first signs of orc on the pathway. Tera slowed further, body bent uncomfortably in a half-crouch, fingertips light against stony ground as she sheltered herself under the cover of large, broken crevices. She heard footsteps, smelled the stench of filth ever more clearly now that they were no longer amidst the free-flowing wind of the forest. Here, in the depths of stone where the air lay still and stagnant, the stink of the creatures seemed to grow and mutate to a magnitude unimaginable. A single orc could be sensed by a common man a quarter mile away. The greater problem then, however, was to bear the reeking smell long enough to kill him. Not too many men would have that fortitude, and for once Tera welcomed the fact that when she was a much younger child (and much worse thief), she very often needed access to the lower city sewers. How the elf coped, she could not imagine.
As they drew nearer, she began to separate footstep from footstep. The orc were numerous, it appeared. One, heavy of step and infrequent of movement, seemed to be poised in the middle. However, she could not ask Glorfindel for the elf ("oh great, mighty elf") had very wisely chosen to slink along the shadows of the opposite wall. Of course, both of them were too distracted on their find of orc to notice that the tunnel had stretched in width to be able to mass an army of twenty-five abreast, rather than the mere dozen that the path before could hold. Tera cursed silently to herself before refocusing again of the enemy. What was done was done. The plan would be more awkward, yes, but feasible all the same.
She counted six pacing footsteps around the central figure, all pacing slightly and varying in step and therefore in size. Six. Six should be easy. She tried to catch Glorfindel's eye and curse silently again when she found that she was at the moment in the farther-most region of his mind. His whole concentration, it seemed, was currently fixed on their new encounter. Which meant that according to his elf senses…
…This was it.
As they drew as near as their need for stealth allowed, Tera slowly raised herself so that her eyes could peer over rock and crevice towards the party of orc. The cave was dark, and her cloak or midnight black, and she did not fear the top of her head being seen by any of the creatures. As her eyes took in the scene in front of her, her hand reached instinctively for the blade at her side.
Yes, this may be it.
The six orc guards were heavily armored, with great, ugly, badly molded iron that stank of rust. The quality of the metal, however, seemed to be good. They paced somewhat mechanically, each taking exactly the same number of steps to the side, then stopping and turning, and continuing back. Abnormal, Tera decided, and more than simple fear or discipline.
The orc in the middle, however, was the one that she should be concentrating on, and she quickly shifted her focus on him. The creature was burly, great and hulking, reeking of decades of uncleansed dirt. He was a prominent feature amongst the other orc, greater both in size and in presence. And, hanging in gaudy pride between both his shoulder blades, Tera saw a dark red jewel.
Then this must be Sarn.
In the corner of her eye, she saw Glorfindel readying himself to leap out, blade swift and body swifter in search of death, of vengeance and whatever else he fought for. Tera was quite prepared to follow suit when some subconscious part of her mind gave pause.
This was too easy.
Glorfindel said earlier that orc were orc.
But do you believe him?
Might it be a mistake?
If you make a mistake, it will not be one you will live through.
Come—keep your nerve, look through it once more… what do you see?
There is an elf, torn by grief, but that is not the point. Six guards pace as if hypnotized, five steps left, turn on left foot five steps right. They are probably experienced but that does not matter. The cavern is large and built to our advantage.
Built to our advantage?
Look again—What do you see? What do you know, what do you see?
I know that orc are not all as prejudice see them. If this one can dabble in mind-control, then he would be cunning, literate in his own language and more probably in others. He would be ruthless, but not unnecessarily bloodless. He would have eyes that are cold and contemplative, forever contemplating, and…
…This orc has eyes that are dazed.
Then she saw it.
It was a trap.
She turned fully and saw the elf poised a splint-second before flight. Saw that it was too late to give a warning and saw the bloody scene playing itself out in her head.
Shit!
Before her mind could register movement or really any conscious thought, she found herself soaring in one long movement over the rubble that she had hid behind.
Idiot!! Idiot girl, what have you done?
But it was too late now, and the orc had seen. In a split-second she made the only choice she had left to make.
"Stop!" she commanded, eyes aimed at the orc but voice aimed at the elf behind her. It worked, she knew, for she felt the sudden stilling of moving power (kinesthetic movement, her mind added in hysterical clarity) and the confused blank where it once was. She propelled herself past a bodyguard, slashing his neck in the slit between helmet and body armor without a pause in motion, before flipping a left-handed throwing knife directly at the blood-red jewel.
It shattered the pendant ("Nothing but glass") and the thin links of chainmail to imbed itself in the orc's heart.
Breathless with a fool's hope, Tera waited for an effect.
Instead, she heard maniacal laughter and the coming a at least two dozen more orc, before one of the bodyguards from before took advantage of her distraction to send her into oblivion.
