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Back to the previous chapter: Visitations
Second Draft
The morning was cool, with a crisp bite in the air more common to an early spring month such as Nuin, not late spring. A damp air hung over the village of Hillsdale, and the thin fog hanging over the town thickened near the stream that passed by the town. A subtle acrid smell drifted through Hillsdale from the ruins of the houses that still smoldered on the north end of town.
The fireplace of the common room crackled as it warmed the Hillsdale Inn. The adventurers had moved one of the large round tables close to the fireplace. As they idly ate a warm breakfast, the party discussed plans for traveling to the mines, which were seven and a half miles away in the rolling foothills of this extreme end of the Middle Ranges.
Breanna breathed deeply the spiced vapors of a still-steaming mug of cider that she held just below her chin. Her eyes were closed as she let her thoughts drift towards the easy days of Armagh that she had so recently left. The blissful expression faded as she opened her eyes and looked at the common room of the Hillsdale Inn. "Is Eric coming downstairs, or is he going to sleep all morning?"
"Oh," Kasey said as he brightened. "He went out early this morning, just before sunrise. He said he was going to take a look around town."
Bilbus sat slumped over his plate like a vulture, with one fist supporting his chin. He pushed a scrambled pile of food around the edge of his dull pewter plate. He tilted his head back to look at the cheery Church Knight and grunted. "He kicked me only a couple of times when he was getting out of bed."
Kasey looked at Bilbus. "Well, you were the one who insisted on sleeping on the floor of our room. You could have taken a different room, you know."
Bilbus scowled towards Sturm. "I did not want someone mistakenly hauling me out to the stables again."
Sturm snorted disdainfully, but otherwise ignored the thief.
The back door of the common room swung open as Eric stepped in, framed by the early morning light of the rising sun illuminating thin tendrils of fog behind the inn. He quickly shut the door and strode towards his companions and their table, holding a piece of paper in front of him as he did. "Good! Everyone is awake. I sketched a rough map of the hills between Hillsdale and the mine."
Sturm grabbed the paper. He pushed some plates out of the way and spread it on the table as he stood to lean over it. "Good. We needed some reconnaissance of the area."
Bilbus pushed his plate away, then looked at Eric incredulously. "You went out and wandered around out there, where the orcs are? By yourself?"
Eric looked at Bilbus dismissively. "Of course not. I talked to a couple of shepherds while they were heading out into the dale with their flocks. They knew a little bit about the hills towards the mines." Eric then opened the flap of a large leather pouch on his belt. He pulled a spyglass out of the pouch and offered it to the thief. "After the sun came up, I checked a couple of the things that they described with your spyglass. Where did you get this again?"
"Give me that!" Bilbus snatched the spyglass away from Eric and carefully inspected the barrel and lenses. "I got it in Londoun, at one of the ships' outfitters."
Eric nodded thoughtfully. "I need to get one when we get back to town." He glanced out the open front door of the inn. "Oh, the fog should lift within the hour."
Sturm had finished studying the map. He looked up at his companions. "We are not going to follow the road up to the mine." When Breanna looked puzzled, he added, "It is the most direct route of approach. The orcs are most likely to be patrolling it."
Kasey's attention drifted as the Sun Knight continued to discuss approach lanes and spotting distances. He noticed that Bilbus had once again slumped back into his seat. "You don't look so good, Bilbus." The Church Knight looked concerned. "Are you feeling ill?"
Bilbus lifted his head and looked at Kasey with an unreadable expression. "Do you remember two nights ago, when you went charging the orcs by yourself?"
"Yeah!" Kasey said. He grinned and added, "I could have had them, you know!"
Bilbus rolled his eyes. The Church Knight was too enthusiastic. "You could have been dead, Kase." He pointed towards Kasey's healing shoulder. "It took a lot out of me to help Bree heal that wound." Kasey's grin slipped a little. "Look, Kasey. In the future, please do not go charging off into battle without a plan. Let's make sure you and Sturm have something worked out before you go running off into a fight..."
Kasey interrupted. "I never was good with that planning stuff."
Bilbus continued without a pause, "... or, let's make sure Sturm has a plan before you charge. We don't want to lose a Church Knight any time soon." Bilbus chuckled to himself. "They may hunt us down to get some compensation or something."
Kasey looked genuinely concerned. "Oh, no. They don't do that." He paused for a moment as if he remembered something. "Not usually, at least."
Bilbus sighed. "Great. Just promise me that you won't go charging off by yourself."
"Okay," Kasey agreed. "I won't charge by myself." He added, talking to himself, "Wait for a plan. I can do that." He then concluded, "Now, let's get some orcs."
Eric had joined Sturm in a discussion of approaches to the mine. After an hour of planning, the two had agreed that the best route to the mine was to follow the stream south out of Hillsdale. It curved into the hills southeast of town, a couple of miles south of the mines. The party would then follow the edge of a forest to a point about a mile east of the mines.
The party rode slowly along the bank of the stream through a forest, just over two miles from Hillsdale. Beams of sunlight shined through the sparse canopy overhead. Where the sunlight touched ground, small constellations of dewdrops shined on the blades of grass and on the soil underfoot. Birds chirped in the distance, a constant singsong of chirps and whistles. Even so, the forest nearby felt hushed, as if it were waiting.
Sturm led the column of riders, his head scanning to and fro as he searched for any signs of orcs. Kasey likewise scanned the forest from the other end of the column. The rest of the party rode between the two knights, single file for the most part.
Near the back of the line of riders, five paces ahead of Kasey, Breanna and Bilbus rode side by side. Bilbus had been talking softly to her since they reached the edge of the forest, trying to calm the young woman as they rode. Even so, Breanna's grip on Star's reins was tight, and the noblewoman looked pale even in the shade of the forest. Every now and again, Breanna would shake her head in response to something Bilbus said, and she would look about the forest wildly.
Rishala rode next to Adria, several paces ahead of Breanna and Bilbus. He, too, was talking to his riding companion, but Adria was intent on listening to him, not searching the forest for unseen horrors.
Rishala looked around at the trees surrounding him. "I had been chasing some stray sheep that had disappeared into the trees. I had seen some foxes nearby, and I was afraid that the foxes would go after the sheep." Rishala paused, waiting for Adria to point out that foxes did not hunt sheep, but she said nothing. "I found a clearing that I had never noticed before. It was a depression in the ground, maybe ten paces wide, with stone columns surrounding another stone in the middle. The stone in the middle had faded inscriptions on it, very strange and old inscriptions.
"I had never seen anything like it before, so I rode down into the depression. It was steeper than it looked, and my horse was having trouble keeping its feet. Then, a fox jumped out of the bush, chasing a mouse. My horse spooked, and it reared. I fell out of the saddle, but one of my feet didn't get out of the stirrups, and I hit the ground hard."
Adria nodded, still following his story. "Were you hurt badly?"
Rishala shook his head. "I was nae hurt as bad as I had right to be. I was knocked out, but a scream woke me up. My head felt like a smith's anvil, it throbbed so, but I forgot about it when I saw the forest around me. It was nothing like this one, or the one I was in back home when I fell. The trees were short, and I swear that some of them had faces in the bark. The leaves -- oh, the leaves were even stranger. It was as if a madman had been given a palette of paints and turned loose in the forest. Every color you can imagine, and more, were on the leaves. Sometimes, several colors were on the same leaf!"
"Was it a dream?" Adria asked.
"No, as much as I wish it were. You know about the elves?" Adria nodded. "They are a people from the world Phaeree. Phaeree resides in another plane, a parallel universe."
Adria's forehead furrowed. "I know Phaeree is another world..."
"Everything around us is part of our universe. The trees, the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars. But ours is not the only universe. There are other universes, with their own trees and suns and moons and stars. The study of them is the study of the multiverse. This study also includes those other planes of existence, such as the Seven Hells of damnation." Adria was still perplexed. "It's nae important," Rishala concluded.
"So what happened next? You mentioned a scream?"
"Aye. As I was looking at the rainbow of leaves, I heard that scream again. I forgot about the pain in my head and ran towards the scream. I don't know why I ran towards it." Rishala ducked as his horse rode underneath a low-hanging branch. Adria moved her horse over a couple of paces to give Rishala more room. "Thank ye, m'Lady.
"Anyway, I ran towards the screams. When I found them, I nearly left my mind. In front of me was a pond of bright pink water -- at least, I think it was water -- with this thing in it. It looked to be a wolf, but its body was twice the size of a man. And, it had the head of an ape, like a degenerate man, and the front legs had hands.
"This thing held a young girl in its hands, dragging her towards the water. She struggled and screamed, and the thing covered her face with another hand, one that was on the end of its long, rat-like tail."
"What did you do?"
"I did nae think. I reacted. I drew my bow -- I still had it -- and took aim. I was shaking so badly that I did not want to risk hurting the girl, so I loosed the arrow low. The arrow grazed its leg, and it forgot the girl when it turned to face me. I fell to a knee as it rushed through the pond towards me. I readied another arrow, closed me eyes, and loosed. When I looked again, I saw the thing falling into the pool, the fletching of my second arrow in its right eye. The girl ran into the forest, and I chased her..."
From behind him, Rishala heard Bilbus calling out. "Rishala! You are knowledgeable about orcs, right?" Rishala turned in his saddle in time to see Bilbus shooing Breanna away as she tried to quiet him. "Where do orcs live? Do they like forests?"
Rishala turned his horse off of the trail they were following and stopped. He looked at the pale Breanna before answering. "They don't like to get wet. That tangled mess of hair on their head smells really bad when it's wet. My guess is that they would stay in the mines, unless they have buildings or tents near the entrance."
Bilbus looked at Breanna. "See? Rishala says that they aren't in this forest. We're still at least five miles from the mines."
Breanna looked uncertainly at Rishala. "Okay..." Her grip on the reins relaxed a little, but she continued to watch the forest.
Rishala turned back onto the trail, now following Adria. The riders continued in silence for some time, the only noise being the steps of the horses and the twitters and chirps of birds in the trees around them. After ten minutes of riding, Sturm halted his horse and raised his right fist into the air. Most of the other riders stopped, but Eric rode forward until he was alongside Sturm's large warhorse.
"What do you see?" the explorer asked after he stopped his horse.
Sturm nodded forward. "This stream comes out of a cave at the base of the hill ahead of us."
Eric looked at the small cave entrance. "It looks like we'll have to ride over the hill to see where the stream goes into the cave."
Sturm nodded. "Yes. We are not following the stream through the cave."
Sturm started up the hillside, steering his horse along the steep drop over the river entrance.
As Bree started Star up the hillside, she muttered, "Not good. Not good."
"Bree, calm down," Bilbus said. "We are surrounded by two of the best knights I have ever spent time with." Granted, they are the only knights I've ever been around...
Sturm found where the stream flowed into the hill without any difficulty. It was a much larger opening than the exit, tall enough to walk into it if one stooped. Sturm looked at the entrance for a moment before he continued along the stream.
Fifteen minutes later, as Sturm reached the edge of this sparse forest, he stopped. He again put his right fist into the air. He then turned back to the rest of the party and called out, "Bilbus, bring me your spyglass!"
Bilbus clucked as he shook Acquisition's reins. The horse sprung into a trot. Bilbus reined the horse to Sturm's right as Eric rode forward to stop at Sturm's left.
Bilbus drew his spyglass from its padded scabbard and held it out towards Sturm. "What's up?" he asked.
Sturm raised the glass and looked towards a hill northeast of them. Bilbus looked where Sturm was surveying. On the hillside, almost half a mile away, stood a squat, stout tower. There were no trees near the tower, which showed signs of age even at this distance. Moss and dirt discolored the face of the round tower. Bilbus looked at Sturm, then noticed that Eric was squinting and looking at the tower, with one hand against his forehead like a sun-shade.
Bilbus unconsciously spoke in a hushed voice. "Do you see anyone?"
Without lowering the spyglass, Sturm replied, "No. I can see the entrance to the tower. The door is still intact, and it is closed. I can also see the crenellations on the top of the tower, and a balcony over the door. There is no movement."
Eric stopped squinting at the tower. "I can't see anything moving, either." He shifted in his saddle to look at Sturm and Bilbus. "What do we do? If the tower's occupied, they could hit us as we cross this valley. If we approach the tower, they have plenty of opportunity to shoot us. I don't think we want to ignore that tower."
Sturm lowered the spyglass and considered for a moment. "The archers can set up in the treeline right here while the rest of you cross the valley, sticking close to the river. If someone in the tower does attack, we can fire arrows at them from here while the other group dashes for cover in the trees up ahead. If nothing happens, then we can catch up once they are across."
Bilbus looked at the Sun Knight. "'We'? What do you mean 'we'?"
Sturm patted the unstrung bow lashed to the side of his horse. "I have a bow, Bilbus."
Bilbus shifted in his saddle. "Wait a minute. You're saying that Kasey, Breanna, and I waltz across the valley, in plain view of the tower, and hope that the orcs don't have an ambush waiting for us. Meanwhile, you and the archers will stand here, in cover, and watch."
Sturm nodded. "Yes. Did you want to just charge the tower, instead?"
"No!"
Kasey rode up to see what the three men were looking at. "Hey, what's going on?" He noticed the hill. "Oh, look! A tower!" He pointed at the structure.
"We know, Kasey," Bilbus snarled. "Sturm wants you and I to take Bree across the clearing to the trees over there," he pointed at the treeline almost a half mile to the east. "The archers will stay here and cover us."
Kasey looked at the bed of the stream in the clearing ahead. "Sounds like a great idea!" He turned to look over his shoulder. "Lady Breanna! Come along! We're going to cross the clearing!"
Breanna rode forward and stopped behind the row of horses.
Bilbus called back to her, "Ride between us, Bree. In case there's an ambush."
"What?!?" she shouted in a panic.
"You'll be fine, my Lady," Kasey offered. "I'll be on your left, between you and the tower. Bilbus will cover your other side." He shook his reins, and Farran started walking forward. "Let's go."
"Tower?" Breanna asked, uncomprehending.
Bilbus nodded. "Don't worry, Bree. You'll be fine. Kasey is good at taking care of people." He walked Acquisition forward.
Breanna rode along between the other two into the grassy clearing. She watched the tower for a minute, then she started muttering to herself again.
"I can't believe I'm doing this. This is madness! A week ago, I was safe at home, helping poor Master Shipley run his apothecary. Now, I've saved a man from a wound that should have killed him, and I've had another man die on me -- die! -- and I was in a town where orcs attacked! Orcs aren't supposed to be here! They all left after the Fall of Camelough!"
Bilbus listened to her speak, and the short raspy breaths she was taking. When she stopped for a moment to pant and catch her breath, Bilbus interjected, "Bree, breathe slower. Deep, slow breaths. If you keep that breathing up, you are going to pass out and fall off your horse. Then, we'll all be in trouble if there are any orcs in that tower."
Breanna nodded quickly to herself and tried to slow her breathing. Bilbus continued a calming prattle, not really talking about anything but trying to soothe Breanna and keep her distracted while the three riders crossed the grassy field. The whole time that he talked, Bilbus kept his eyes on the tower, just in case someone did attack.
Once they were under cover of trees once more, Bilbus said, "See, we're across. We're okay."
Breanna nearly fell from her saddle as she looked around. She realized that they were hidden in a forest once again.
The other riders crossed the open area at a fast trot. They joined their comrades, also unmolested.
Sturm turned his horse to look at the tower. "I don't want to leave that tower to our rear without checking it, first."
Rishala nodded. "Aye. We should at least check it over before we move on. It will nae take long to see if anyone is in it. Maybe half an hour, at most?"
Bilbus looked at the tower. "I'll go. I'm best suited for getting into the tower unnoticed." He then turned to Eric. "Give me the black sword we got from Cadell. I may want something heavier than a rapier if there is trouble."
Eric studied Bilbus for a few moments, then pulled a wrapped bundle from behind one of his horse's saddlebags. He unwrapped the bundle as he used his knees to steer his horse next to Bilbus's. Eric offered the sword, still in its scabbard with attached belt, to Bilbus. Bilbus took the sword and slung the belt over his right shoulder. He adjusted the belt until the grip of the weapon was just above his right shoulder, then turned to Rishala and Sturm. "Shall we go?"
The three rode their horses back into the clearing, then rode towards the tower. They surveyed the structure as they approached. The stones of the tower were nearly black from years of neglect, giving the place an imposing appearance. Nothing moved near the tower, and not even birds roosted on the top of it. The tower was four levels above ground, and it was wider than it was tall. It loomed above them on the hill, squat and ugly.
The riders reached the base of the tower. Rishala dismounted and drove some stakes into the ground to tie their horses while Sturm circled the base of the tower. When he had completed the lap, Sturm hopped down from his horse and tied the reins to the stake. "There is only that one door," he said as he nodded towards the blackened oak door at the top of some stairs.
Bilbus pointed towards the balcony overhanging the door, two stories up. "There is the balcony." He held up his right hand. The grappling hook he held glinted in the late morning sunlight.
Sturm looked at the thief. "Can you throw the hook that far?"
Bilbus smirked. "But, of course." He took a few steps back and started to swing the hook. "Allow me to demonstrate."
Bilbus released the hook, and it sailed into the air and over the battlements of the balcony, streaming a thin rope behind it as it flew. With a metallic clang, the hook hit the stone floor of the balcony. Bilbus pulled the rope until it became taut. He tested the placement of the hook by pulling himself up so he could hang from the rope for a few seconds.
He dropped back to the ground and looked at Sturm. "See? Not a problem."
Bilbus then started climbing the rope, swinging about as the rope spun. Sturm grabbed the loose rope and pulled it tight.
"Thank you!" Bilbus called down before he continued to climb.
Once the thief had pulled himself over the low wall of the balcony, Sturm removed his gauntlets and strapped them onto his sword belt. He quickly climbed the rope, leaving Rishala alone with the horses. The Sun Knight pulled himself over the balcony's wall and crouched with his back against it as he strapped his gauntlets back onto his hands. Bilbus was on the other side of the balcony with his head pressed against the narrow end of a cone that he held against a weather-aged door. Sturm looked around at the balcony as the thief listened. The stones of the balcony were well rounded, and some of the battlements showed cracks from hundreds of winters.
Bilbus pulled back from the door, then looked at Sturm. In a loud whisper, the mountebank said, "I don't hear anything. I'm going to try the door."
Sturm shifted his balance until he was a coiled spring ready to leap. Bilbus slowly grasped the door handle, then pulled on the handle. Bilbus nodded to himself, then ever so slowly pulled to door open a scant few inches. The mountebank waddled in a crouch until he could peer into the opening. After a minute, he turned and shook his head at Sturm.
Sturm peered over the battlement. Rishala was still standing near the horses, watching. The Sun Knight asked, "Are you coming up here?"
Rishala shook his head. "I don't think I need to."
Sturm glanced back at Bilbus. The thief was still looking into the room inside the tower. Sturm looked back down to Rishala. "Go over to the door and pound on it. If you hear anyone moving inside the tower, run."
Rishala thought about the request for a moment, then walked towards the door. Sturm turned back to Bilbus.
The thief had already opened the door wide enough that either of the men could slip through it. Bilbus had just pulled his head back from the doorway when Sturm stood up and took the three steps he needed to cross the balcony.
Bilbus stood up and whispered to the Sun Knight, "It's a bedroom. There are two doors, one to the left, one to the right. There is an armoire against the wall to the left, and a bed directly across the room. There is also a desk to the right." He paused for a moment. "There are some candles burning on a stand by the desk, but no one is in there right now."
Sturm nodded. "Let's take a closer look."
Bilbus looked into the room again. The wood of the interior floors was obviously much newer than the tower itself, but they were still smooth from many years' use. The interior dividing walls were likewise wooden, and grayed with age. The furnishings in the bedroom looked downright natal compared to the structure that surrounded them. The flickering of the candles to Bilbus's right cast odd shadows on the walls that were attenuated slightly by the pale light shining in from windows set in the central well of the tower, opposite the balcony. Still satisfied that there was no one in the room, Bilbus stepped into it.
Once across the door's threshold, Bilbus quietly drew the adamantine sword Eric had given him. He padded slowly across the ancient wooden floor towards the desk, sniffing carefully as he moved. This tower is old, but it is definitely still lived in. He stopped in front of the desk. On its writing surface was a quill and a bottle of ink neatly placed in the center. The blotter was at the top of the desk, also centered. Beneath the bottle of ink was a single sheet of paper.
Bilbus sheathed the black sword and moved the bottle of ink. He picked up the paper and read it. Once he finished it, he re-read the last part of it, then walked towards Sturm.
The Sun Knight was standing in the middle of the room, sword drawn, as he circled slowly looking for a threat.
"Sturm," Bilbus said quietly. "Read this. Tell me what you think."
Sturm took the page and quickly scanned the smooth script.
My Lady ~
I hope that the smokes of Suderpol are fair today. I greatly miss the warm breezes of your fair City. You asked me for a report on the progress in the Northern Area to pass on to the Baron. Here is my report.
The operations at Hillsdale go well. The Stone Fist Tribe have performed admirably, and we have control of the mine as well as the local town. The mayor, an agent by the name of Cassal, tried to renege on the pledges he gave the Great Lord. I have made sure that he will suffer greatly before he faces the Great Lord in the beyond.
I have found another place for us to concentrate our efforts. There is a town a hundred miles south of Londoun that has a fine position to control trade along the River Llwelyn. The local lord was not interested in our offers at last report. We will need a more suitable technique to influence him. Perhaps when Ezeka is through, he can lend his talents?
After he finished reading the text, Sturm glanced up at Bilbus. "I think Eric needs to see this."
Bilbus nodded. Sturm gave the paper to Bilbus and continued to look around the room. Bilbus walked out to the balcony and looked over the edge.
Rishala waved to him. "No one's home!" the story teller yelled.
Bilbus cringed. "Shh! There is someone in here! Hey, take this to Eric. He really needs to see it!" Bilbus dropped the paper over the edge of the balcony.
Rishala caught it, then untied his horse from its stake. The Caledonian swung up onto his horse and raced it back to the treeline, the paper folded and tucked into his shirt.
From the trees, Eric watched the exchange at the forest. He watched Rishala race back towards the spot where the stream entered the forest, about twenty paces away from where Eric and Adria had decided to watch the tower, their long bows strung and leaning against nearby trees.
Eric waved at Rishala once the story teller had passed into the cover of the trees. Rishala spotted Eric, then stopped his horse and tied it off to a nearby sapling. He circled around to Eric and Adria as he pulled the sheet of paper out of his shirt.
"Bilbus says you need to read this," Rishala said as he gave Eric the paper.
Eric read it, then made a low whistle. He read it again.
Adria looked at Eric. "What is it?"
Eric met her gaze. "Whoever these people are, they get around. They are going to ... no, they tried to recruit my father. I'd better get up there."
Eric folded the paper and gave it back to Rishala. He grabbed his bow and walked towards the horses. He strapped the bow onto his saddle and climbed into the saddle. The explorer quickly ran his horse to the tower, covering the distance in just a few moments.
At the base of the tower, he stopped his horse next to Sturm's and Bilbus's, then jumped out of the saddle. Eric put hobbles on his horse's forelegs, stood, and grabbed his bow. Eric looped the bow over a shoulder, then grabbed the rope and started climbing it to the balcony.
Eric found Bilbus and Sturm in the bedroom. Sturm was standing near one of the doors, sword drawn, waiting quietly, while Bilbus was rummaging through an armoire. Several dark-colored dresses had been tossed onto the floor as Bilbus kept searching through the armoire. Bilbus opened the top of two drawers below the main compartment. He pulled shifts out of the drawer and tossed them onto the pile of dresses. The mountebank stopped and held some sort of small silk undergarment with two fingers as he looked at Eric.
"I think a women lives here," the mountebank said as he dropped the garment onto the pile he had made.
"Do you think so?" Eric said, hiding the sarcasm in his voice. "We are in the Dales. Maybe men here wear full-length dresses, instead of those kilts like Rishala and the rest of Caledonia like to wear."
Bilbus scowled at Eric, then picked up his ear-cone, which had been sitting on the floor next to him. The mountebank padded quietly to the nearest door and put the ear-cone against it. He pressed his ear against the cone and listened. After a few moments, he shook his head and set the cone aside.
"I don't hear anything," he said as he slowly opened the door. Once it was open far enough, Bilbus stuck his head into the room. When he was done looking, he pulled back and shut the door. "It's dark, and there's no movement. I think it's another room like this, but it looks unused and smells a little musty."
"What about the other door?" Eric asked.
"It's next." Bilbus picked up his listening cone and crossed quietly to the other door, where Sturm still waited quietly.
The mountebank settled to one knee and pressed the cone to the door. He suddenly froze, then got back to his feet. He padded to the middle of the room and gestured to both Eric and Sturm. Once the other two men were standing close to him, Bilbus quietly said, "I hear someone talking."
Sturm walked quietly back towards the door, sword at ready. Eric drew an arrow from his quiver and nocked it, drawing the bowstring back a little as he circled towards the exterior wall of the room to get as clear of a shot into the adjoining room as possible. Bilbus drew the adamantine sword from its scabbard and stood on one side of the door as Sturm took a position opposite him.
Bilbus whispered, "The door opens into that room, towards your side. I have the handle here." He glanced at Eric, who nodded, then asked Sturm, "Ready?"
Sturm adjusted his grip on his hand-and-a-half sword, then nodded. Bilbus slowly pushed the catch, feeling the latching bar grind against the stay on the other side of the wall, until the bar quietly popped free. Bilbus shoved the door open briskly and stepped back. Sturm took two fast steps through the doorway.
The interior of the room was well lit by two braziers near the central well wall of the room. A large desk or table, covered with books and looks leafs of paper, filled the center of the room. A chair was on the near side of the table. The far end of the room had markings on the floor, made of a golden dust. A circle surrounded a seven-pointed star, all of gold dust. Sturm had heard of septograms being used as inclusive pentacles, used to bind malevolent creatures from the netherrealms so that they could not harm their summoners.
Close to the curving exterior wall of the room was a pinkish stone slab, eleven feet high and eleven wide. It was only a couple of inches thick. Sturm did not see anything supporting it, and he wondered briefly why it had not fallen over. However, the occupants of the room were a more pressing interest.
The first one was a fairly attractive, mature woman in a dark dress similar to those Bilbus had piled in the bedroom. Her long, dark hair had streaks of white in it, and her skin was pale. She stood near the pentacle opposite Sturm. She had just started to turn around to face the intruder, but the other occupant of the room drew Sturm's attention from her.
The thing seemed to be cast in a shadow. It was almost as tall as Sturm, and it wore a ragged black robe that obscured its body and legs. It seemed blurred, as if Sturm were looking at several of the things in slightly different positions at the same time, in the same place. The blurring cloak moved and billowed as if it were in a turbulent breeze, even though the air in the room was still. Dark metal armor, like the scales of a black snake, covered the thing's torso and arms. A similarly glossy black helm covered its head. Only the face was visible, with skin pale as a cloud. Two eyes, large and opaquely black, stared unblinkingly at Sturm. The mouth was small, little more than a thin slit below the eyes. Even the thing's face seemed blurred, as if there were many of them subtly displaced from one another. Sturm had little more time to study it, for it closed quickly with the Sun Knight, drawing a cruel, black sword with a curved blade as it did.
The thing slashed with its vile blade, trying to decapitate the knight. Sturm brought his own blade into position to deflect the first attack, surprised at the unnatural speed of the thing. The Sun Knight shifted his feet, moving to one side to counterattack with a deadly blow. It turned the cut readily, its sword almost appearing to vanish in the shadow of its wielder. Once more, it attacked, feinting a thrust at Sturm's head, then turning the blade quickly towards Sturm's legs at the last moment.
Several paces behind Sturm, Eric shifted to get a clear shot at the thing. He pulled his bowstring to full draw, waited a few breaths, then released the string. The arrow plunged deeply into the thing's chest, but the thing did not appear to notice the attack as it continued to pressure Sturm to defend himself.
Bilbus felt the arrow fly past him more than he saw it. He jumped to the side, trying to find a way to get past Sturm into the room beyond. Sturm had effectively blocked the door, and the knight had not had a chance to move since the creature had attacked. Bilbus had no weapon with which he could attack from a distance. He felt a chill, and glanced up in time to see an aura of darkness surge around the woman in the room. Heka channeler! Dark -- uh, oh.
The braziers in the woman's room began to belch a thick, unnatural smoke as the knight and his opponent continued to fight just beyond the doorway. Bilbus shifted again, briefly blocking Eric's shot at the creature. The thief pointed his left hand at the woman and desperately reached for the torrent of dark Heka he could feel flowing through him. As a sudden warm rush flowed through his body, Bilbus shaped the magickal energies into five glowing darts that shot from his fingertip towards the woman. All five darts disappeared two feet away from the woman, their magickal energies unwoven by an invisible barrier that rippled in a brief chromatic burst.
I have her attention now, Bilbus thought as the woman glared at him. There was an instantaneous dark flash around her, then Bilbus felt the entire world spin. He fell to the ground, the only one affected by the vertigo. What in the Nine Hells was that?
Sturm still fought the thing, deflecting blow after blow and occasionally swinging a counterattack that the thing parried. The Sun Knight still held his ground, but he was starting to slow from effort. The creature swung its blade once more, sharply redirecting the tip of it at the last instant to cut through Sturm's hardened leather armor. The sudden burn of the injury on his shoulder, inches from his neck, gave Sturm a brief surge of energy. He chopped into the thing's side with his sword and drew it quickly out of the being's body, leaving a deep cut in the thing that gave Sturm little satisfaction. The thing was unfazed by the injury.
Bilbus felt a sudden strong surge of someone channeling Heka. He noticed a large, dark halo around Sturm's opponent. In the room beyond, the middle of the pink granite slab was disappearing, slowly dissolving into a dark doorway framed by pink stone.
Bilbus realized that Sturm was losing ground, being forced on the defensive more and more. The thick smoke had started to obscure the shadowy thing even more. If Sturm did not stop the creature soon, he would be unable to see it.
Bilbus pushed himself to his knees, then reached towards Sturm as he drew Heka once more into a weave. He slapped Sturm's leg, then rolled to one side to stand up.
Sturm felt a tingle course through his body. The smoke swirling in the room was moving slower. The dark-eyed monster in front of him was still fast, but it had slowed enough to give Sturm time to read its movements. After several well-placed deflections, Sturm managed to trick the thing into overextending. With a sudden shove to its swordarm and a powerful backhand swing, Sturm cut the thing in the neck. The head slowly flew off to the left, into the smoke, as a thick, dark fluid sprayed from the severed neck. As the thing's body crumpled backwards to the ground, Sturm ran into the room, towards the baleful red glow in the smoke that marked the braziers. He toppled both braziers with sweeping kicks as he ran past them.
As soon as Sturm disappeared into the room, Eric loosed a pair of arrows quickly at the shadowy form of the woman. The first arrow disappeared into the smoke, leaving a broiling turbulence in the smoke, followed closely by the second. A surprised scream came from the room that rose in pitch before stopping abruptly.
Eric put another arrow on the bowstring and charged into the room, jumping over the still-thrashing body of the creature Sturm had dispatched. Bilbus regained his feet, and he now circled the thing's body, pointing his black sword at it.
"What is that thing?" Eric asked as he looked at the strange, pale face.
From somewhere in the smoke came Sturm's voice, strangely high and very fast. "Idunnoiveneverseenanythinglikeit."
The Sun Knight appeared in the smoke. He cocked his head briskly. "Whatswrongwithyoutwo? Whyareyousoslow?"
Bilbus snorted. "I put a dweomer on you to make you faster. That thing was starting to win. Maybe you should check the rest of the tower while you're fast, in case more to these things are in here." Bilbus poked the body with the adamantine sword. It was moving slower; perhaps it was finally realizing that it was dead.
Sturm charged past them into the bedroom, still moving inhumanly fast. Bilbus glanced around the smoky room. The smoke was thinning, revealing the body of the woman on the far end of the room. Bilbus stepped around the table to look at her more closely. She had two horrific cuts in her midsection, and a nick on her shoulder. She stared lifelessly at the ceiling of the room, her face frozen in pain.
Eric collected his two arrows. One was on the floor in front of where the woman had stood, as if it had stopped and fallen out of the air. The other had deflected off the outer stone wall of the keep, damaging the head. Eric clucked to himself as he picked up that arrow. He and Bilbus returned to the bedroom, then went out onto the balcony to get out of the smoke.
"How long will the dweomer last on Sturm?" the explorer asked as he opened the doorway to the balcony.
Bilbus shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe another ten minutes."
The mountebank looked towards the treeline where his friends were hiding. He raised an arm over his head and waved it broadly, then gestured for them to ride up to the tower. Moments later, the rest of the party rode out of the forest.
Kasey, astride Farran, led the rest of his friends to the tower. Despite the signal from Bilbus, the knight kept watching the tower and the hill around it for signs of an ambush. Once they had reached the tower, Kasey and the others hobbled their horses to keep them still.
The door on the keep swung open quickly. Instinctively, Kasey reached for his sword, stopping only when he saw Sturm at the door. The Sun Knight gestured quickly to the party as he said, "Everyoneelseisupstairsonthetopfloor."
Sturm disappeared back into the tower as everyone else climbed the short course of stairs to the still-open door. The doorway emptied into a large room that was mostly empty. An old dining table, clean despite the scuffs and dings of age, filled the middle of the room, and sooty tapestries depicting pastoral scenes covered the outer stone wall. Sturm's fading steps led them through a doorway into a kitchen large enough to feed a small army. On the far side of the room, hidden by several rows of old pots and pans hanging from hooks set in the rafters, was a stairwell following the outer wall upwards.
After following the stairs past one landing, the stairs ended in a room full of open boxes and sacks of corn meal and flour. Bilbus and Eric's voices drifted through an open door to the left of the stairs.
As Kasey entered the room, Eric said, "Bilbus, I don't think it is a good idea. When I tried to pick up that thing's sword, it felt like something was being drained from me. It was like touching decay."
"I might be able to do it, Eric," the thief replied. "I have protections that you don't have." He waved his magickal chain necklace briefly, then tucked it back into his shirt. Bilbus squatted by the creature, ignoring its slow movements, and tenderly grabbed the hilt of the curved dark blade that the thing had used to attack Sturm. He felt a chilling sensation and quickly dropped it. He stood up and looked at his companions.
Rishala had paused in midstep when he noticed the still twitching body lying on the ground.
Eric noticed Rishala's surprised expression. "Do you know what it is?" the Azirian asked.
"Aye," Rishala said. "The thing is sometimes called a 'neverborn'. The people of al-Rhayidh called it a 'kent-il-omber', which means 'Shadow Kindred'."
"I am not familiar with it," Eric said as he studied the thing's pasty face.
The timbre of Rishala's voice changed as he settled into his story-telling mode. "Shadow Kindred are minions of the Dark One. When the Dark One invaded Avillonia two millennia ago, his hordes of orc armies had been fought to a standstill south of the Middle Ranges. Although the cities behind the orc hordes had burned, the Sun King's armies had been able to dull their attack. At least, until the Shadow Kindred appeared.
"The Shadow Kindred moved faster than anyone could believe. Uther Paendroeg's mages were not powerful enough to give every warrior the speed to fight one, so the Shadow Kindred tipped the battle once more in favor of the Dark One's armies. As the hordes fought through the Middle Ranges and into the Plains of Albion, which nowadays is the southern extents of the Kingdom of the Five Crowns, the Kindred started wielding curved adamantine blades." Rishala pointed towards the blade next to the dead Shadow Kindred.
"These blades were deadly. They had a curse upon them that caused wounds to fester, never to heal, until they consumed their victims. Thousands of knights died from minor nicks and cuts that any healer should have been able to mend.
"To this day, no one has figured out where the Shadow Kindred come from, nor where their accursed darkblades are made. None of the stories about them ever showed them away from their hordes of orcs." He looked at the darkblade. "No one touched the sword, did they?"
Bilbus nodded. "Eric and I tried to pick it up. I felt something chilling when I tried."
"But did it cut anyone?"
Eric thought for a moment. "I think Sturm has a wound on his shoulder. It may have hit him."
"Let us hope not, Eric." Rishala looked at the darkblade again. "We have got to do something about that sword."
"That's what I was saying," Bilbus interjected. "We can't just leave it here. We must take it with us."
Adria shuffled around the room until she could see the darkblade. Her hands quickly covered her abdomen, unconsciously checking for a wound half-remembered from a nightmare. "No!" she suddenly shouted. "Leave it alone! Don't you see? It's an evil thing."
Rishala glanced at her. "I know it's evil. What we should do is bury it, and make sure no one will ever find it."
Adria shook her head violently. "No! How can you move it without touching it?" She looked at Bilbus. "Do you have a way?"
Bilbus shook his head slowly. "I don't th..."
"See?" Adria interrupted. "Leave it here, and don't touch it."
As Rishala, Adria, and Bilbus argued, Kasey kneeled over the darkblade. He curled his left hand into a fist, then wrapped his right hand around the fist. He squeezed his eyes shut and recited a prayer to the gods, then looked at the sword. He gingerly reached down to touch the grip. The Church Knight yelped and jumped to his feet, looking at the black sword.
Adria looked at Kasey. "What did I tell you?" She turned back to Rishala. "We have to leave it here."
Sturm returned to the room, his movements no longer sudden and rapid. He stopped to look at the dead Shadow Kindred.
Eric nodded to the Sun Knight. "Was there anything else here?"
Sturm shook his head slowly. "No. The bottom floor has a lot of folded cots, and it reeks of orc. They may have used this tower as a staging area before they went to the mines. There were some rooms on the floor below us that may have housed more orcs, but the rooms were better kept. None of them have been used for quite a while.
"I also scouted the area around the tower while I was hurrying. There is quite a bit of rubble around here. Unless I miss my guess, there used to be a small castle up here, not just the single tower."
The Sun Knight walked towards Breanna, who had remained as far from the dead Shadow Kindred as she could. "Lady Breanna, could you look at this cut? It feels strange."
Breanna quickly gathered herself. She looked at the wound for a moment, then drew a thin strand of Heka into the wound. Her forehead wrinkled as she scrutinized the wound.
"This is odd. Normally, I can see what is affecting the cut. Sometimes dirt, or a small infection of tiny things, will get in the wound. This wound is nothing like that. It feels oily. I really do not understand it. I felt this once when Bilbus was helping me heal Kasey, when he prepared some poultices." She looked up at the knight's face. "I don't think I can do anything to heal the wound, Sir Sturm."
Sturm met her gaze. He lowered his voice and asked, "You felt this when Bilbus was channeling Heka?" His eyes flicked towards the mountebank, who was still talking to Adria and Rishala.
"Yes," Breanna admitted. "I've never felt it before. It feels like something is on the surface of the Heka, something dark and slippery. I really can not explain it better than that."
"Thank you, Lady," Sturm said. "I'll just have to be careful with it." The Sun Knight looked towards Eric and Kasey, who were standing in front of the pink stone slab.
Eric tapped on the smooth surface. "It looks like a polished granite, but it is strange."
"Yeah," Kasey agreed. His forehead furrowed as he studied the stone. "But what is it?"
"I think it may be a portal of some sort," Eric ventured. "The middle of it was vanishing before that thing died."
Kasey peered behind the slab. He waved his had around in the inches of space between it and the outer wall of the tower. "It doesn't go anywhere," he said. "There's nothing back here."
Eric sighed quietly. "I think it's magickal, Kasey. From what I could see as it opened, it looked like whatever was beyond it was dark. It didn't lead to the other side of the stone."
"Oh," Kasey said pensively. "I don't understand it, but it must not be good if that thing was trying to use it."
The Church Knight pushed on the flat face of the slab, trying to tip it. When it did not budge, he leaned against it, pushing. Still unable to move the stone, Kasey took a step back and slammed bodily into it. After it had refused to even rock, Kasey kneeled to inspect the base of the slab. "This is really strange," he finally concluded.
Eric nodded in agreement, then looked around the room once more. His eyes stopped on the body of the woman lying near the pentacle. "What should we do about her?" he wondered aloud.
Bilbus stopped arguing and looked at the body. "She's one of the Dark One's concubines. She probably summoned that Shadow Kindred thing in the first place. See the pentacle next to her? I'd just leave her here to rot." Bilbus looked at Kasey. "Hey, Kase. See that gold dust? Go kick it around a little." The Church Knight complied, using his boot to push the lines of gold dust around, destroying the protective pentacle.
"Concubine?" Adria asked.
"Yeah," Bilbus said. "I read about it in a book once."
Rishala shook his head and sighed. "The Dark One's concubines are wielders of dark Heka who have been given special perks in exchange for utter servitude to the Dark One. The name refers to certain ... rites they must perform to bind themselves to the Dark One." Rishala shuddered, although he offered no further explanation. Adria looked like she regretted asking.
Breanna walked over to the wall near the portal slab, carefully staying away from the bodies in the room. "What's this?" she asked as she looked at the wall.
Sturm moved to stand next to her. He looked at the odd angular glyphs that had been painted on the wall. The paint nearly matched the aged gray of the stone wall.
"Writing of some sort," Sturm replied.
"Do you recognize it?"
Sturm paused. "It looks like orc script."
"Can you read it?"
Sturm thought for a moment. He concentrated on a divination technique his trainer had taught him years ago. Breanna felt a slight chill as the Sun Knight channeled a small amount of Heka. Sturm read the script.
"Sword waits for a mil
Stars are right
Blood is right
Sun returns again"
Breanna stared at the writing, trying to draw some sort of understanding from it. "But what does that mean?" She noticed Eric had his journal out, writing furiously.
Sturm shrugged. "I don't know. We've run across this sort of writing before, though. We found an orc near Saltcliffs last week carrying a similar poem."
Once Eric finished writing, he said, "I would like to figure these poems out, but we really need to move on. If we are going to get to the mines before sundown, we should move now. We do not want to be sneaking around there at night if orcs see in the dark better than we do."
"He's right," Kasey added.
The party started heading for the stairs. Bilbus paused for a moment to look at the darkblade.
When Adria saw him pause, she commanded, "Leave it." Bilbus followed the party out of the tower.
Once the party was underway again, following the river deeper into the forest, Breanna rode closer to Adria.
"Adria, what was the matter in the tower? I saw how you reacted when they were talking about that sword."
"Nothing," Adria replied tersely.
"I don't believe you, Adria."
"I don't want to talk about it."
"I won't tell them," Breanna said. "I want to help."
Adria rode in silence for a minute, staring straight ahead. Finally, she sighed. "Bilbus and Eric and Kasey had dreams when we were staying in Saltcliffs. They dreamed about fantastic swords and spears. I had a dream, too, that night. But my dream was different." She paused for a moment, looking around to make sure no one else was in earshot.
"I dreamed I was in a city somewhere, in the mountains, I think. It was warm, and it smelled smoky. I was in an amphitheater with a bunch of other women who were being sold as slaves." Breanna gasped, but Adria continued before the younger woman could interrupt. "A man was bidding on me when this other woman came in and stopped the sale. She said that we were going to 'the forges'. The man who was running the sale was mad, but he shut up when this woman threatened him.
"We were taken out of the amphitheater, and I found myself in a cave. It was hot in there, hotter than anywhere I've ever been. I had been chained to a post, standing up. There were other people in there -- the other women from the slave auction were chained to posts, and a few other men and women, too. There were also a lot of blacksmiths. They moved strangely, like they were stiff. They were making swords. I could see the shape of the blade and tang as they were hammering on them. There were anvils all around, and pits of what I think was molten rock. The smiths would dip the blades into those pools, and the blades would come out hot.
"One of the smiths finished on his blade. He put the grip on, hammered the tang until the grip was solid, then walked towards me, pointing the sword at me. He kept repeating a chant that I couldn't understand. When he got close, I saw the sword." Adria paused, her soft voice shaking. "It was a curved sword, Breanna. Just like what we saw in the tower. He kept repeating the chant... Then he stabbed me with the sword. I don't think I've ever felt a pain like I had in that dream, even when I've been cut with a knife. I could feel the sword drawing my essence into it, and the pain just kept getting worse. I tried to scream, but I woke up then."
Adria looked at Breanna after she finished her narrative. Breanna's face was pale, and she looked terrified.
Adria looked ahead. "That's why I was upset about the sword," she finished.
"I'm sorry," Breanna said. "I didn't know..."
The two women rode on in silence, following the other members of the party through the forest to another clearing. Eric stopped his horse and looked at the treeline on the hills opposite the clearing. He unfolded his map and studied it again.
Eric lowered the map. "That's the edge of the Great Forest proper. If we follow it north for about two miles, we will be able to see the mines to the west in a smaller valley." He folded the map and put it away in a pouch.
Eric and Sturm led the party across the quarter-mile wide valley to the forest. Once their horses were forty paces past the treeline, they turned north. There was no good trail to follow, other than a few scattered game tracks, but the trees were sparse enough that navigation was not a problem.
After they had ridden for an hour, Eric stopped. Bilbus rode up next to the explorer and looked through the trees to the west.
"Bilbus," Eric asked, "may I use your spyglass again?"
Bilbus handed it over. When Eric grabbed the tube, Bilbus held on for a moment. "Certainly, Eric. Thank you for asking this time."
Eric ignored the barb. Instead, he extended the telescope and looked into a valley a mile away. "Unless I miss my guess, that's the mine," he said as he lowered the spyglass for a moment.
Sturm shifted in his saddle. "Do you see any movement?"
Eric looked again at the valley. "No." He offered the spyglass to Sturm. "Do you?"
Sturm took the spyglass and scanned the valley. He could see the mine entrance in the north side of the shallow valley, and there was one larger building and several smaller ones. A pair of canvas tents were arranged east of the buildings.
The Sun Knight stopped looking for a moment as he climbed down from his warhorse. He found a tree he could use to steady himself, and he resumed studying the mine.
"I see the buildings, and two tents..." His voice trailed off for a moment. Something was moving near the mines. "There are orcs. I can see some patrols walking around the mines."
Back to the previous chapter: Visitations
Continue to the next chapter: Mines
Back to the Book I Index.
Back to the Dark Mysteries Campaign Chapter Index.
Second Draft 30 January 2002
Original Draft 21 November 2000
Contact for this page: JourneyMaster@BabylonByCandlelight.com