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Back to the previous chapter: Tunnels
First Draft
A number of hours passed on the dark Island. When Eric stirred, it was just as dark as when he had gone to sleep. His friends were just waking, as well, but the rest of the camp was busy with troops loading equipment onto wagons and otherwise making ready to leave. Pages brought food to the party and started rolling their sleeping bags.
As Eric finished his breakfast, he asked the commanders of the rebel Sun Knights and the Church Knights to join the party for a planning session. Once they were gathered around one of the campfires, he addressed them.
"We will not take footmen through the Portal. We should have a smaller group, all mounted, so we can move fast. The Church Knights will accompany us. Sir Atenburg, your men will stay here and keep the Island under our control." Sir Atenburg nodded. "Sturm will stay with you, as well. From what Sturm has told us, the vampire was able to control him in his dreams. We can not afford for the vampire to take control of him in reality."
"We need Sturm to take that spear," Bilbus reminded his Azirian friend. "Or did you want to carry it?"
Eric shook his head.
"Send Farran after the vampire," Adria suggested, glancing towards the half-kelpie warhorse. Farran's eyes glowed menacingly in the darkness of the Island. "We could follow fifteen minutes later to clean up the mess and grab the spear."
Bilbus expanded on the idea. "Maybe we could go in, ask nicely for the spear, then send Farran and Kasey after the vampire when it refuses."
Bilbus thought for a moment. Jamie was approaching the meeting. He had not been invited, although he was the leader of "Jamie's Band", as the young men from Armagh had taken to calling themselves.
"What's going on?" Jamie asked, looking at the party and the two knights.
"We're planning on how we're going to get the spear," Eric said. "We need to move fast, so the Sun Knights will stay here."
"Everyone in my band has horses," Jamie pointed out. "We could go, too."
Eric looked towards the commander of the Church Knight detachment. "Sir Goudge, you've been training them. What do you think."
Sir Goudge shook his head slowly. Jamie started to protest, but Eric cut him off.
"Jamie, now is not the time. Your band will stay with the Sun Knights to guard this Island. The Island is a mile across, and they will need someone who can relay messages quickly."
Jamie hung his head as he walked away, unhappy with the decision but unwilling to confront "General" Ithell.
Once Jamie was away from the meeting, Eric resumed his planning. "We can go in and parlay with the vampire. If it fails," he looked at Kasey, "we go to 'Plan C'."
"What if," Bilbus began speculatively, "we send guards with Sturm to talk to the vampire."
"No," Eric shook his head. "The vampire has that persuasive control over Sturm."
Adria recommended, "We should leave Sturm here to guard the wagons, so the vampire can't get to him."
"I'm not going to pick up that spear," Bilbus said quickly. "Do you want to pick it up?"
Adria shook her head. Bilbus had mentioned that small problem once already.
"Maybe we should take a couple of priests to add some spiritual armor to Sturm," Eric suggested. "That may not help, though. In any case, it's time. Sir Goudge, ready your men."
When the Church Knights and the party were readied on their horses, Eric nodded to Bilbus. "Knock, knock, Bilbus."
Bilbus channeled the surge of dark magicks into the plain gray stone of the Portal. The center of it dissolved, revealing the interior of a very dark building. The party went through the opening, followed by the twenty Church Knights.
The party and the knights dismounted and searched the building. It had a high ceiling, high enough to ride the horses inside. There were eight walls, forming an octagon. The walls and ceiling were a white stone, and there were skylights in the ceiling; however, the skylights were all open, and most had little jags where glass once was. Rows of benches, most overturned were arranged to face towards the center of the building, where a raised dais and an altar stood. Alcoves around the perimeter of the room held statues of men and women that had dark stains on them.
Bilbus held his lantern close to one of the stained statues. "There's either dried blood or feces on this statue. Someone defiled this temple."
"I'll bet it's someone unfriendly," Eric stated. "From the design of the statues, and the look of this temple, I don't think the worshippers here were cruel or evil."
Near the altar, Breanna muttered quietly to Rishala, "Do you feel that? Something is different here. The Heka feels different."
"Aye," Rishala agreed. "This world feels more magickal, but the gods also feel more distant. We are far from home."
Eric inspected the double doors that led out of the temple. One of the heavy metallic doors was closed, and it would not budge. The other had fallen from one of its hinges, and it was open just enough to squeeze through, but the horses would not be able to get out. There were signs of corrosion on both doors.
"These doors won't move. We need to break them down so we can get out," Eric called out.
Several knights, Kasey included, pulled and twisted on the doors, until they had broken loose. Everyone then led their horses outside and looked around.
It was dark, the bright darkness of a full moon, but there was no moon overhead. The stars looked wrong -- there were no familiar constellations, and the stars seemed much closer and brighter. It was cool, like an early autumn night. A forest surrounded the temple, hundreds and hundreds of closely-spaced trees, all with barren branches. A faint breeze kicked up a few dried leaves. The breeze carried the sweet smell of autumn, of fallen leaves. A road, little more than a trail, led away from the temple into the forest. The dirt was hard and dry, and it showed no signs of recent use.
From a distance away in the forest a red flare shot skyward, throwing sparks and casting a bloody tint on the front of the temple.
"Great," Bilbus muttered. "Something familiar. A signal flare." He drew his drow sword and looked into the trees.
There was movement in the trees. Someone was running through the forest, crushing dead leaves underfoot. Adria and Eric both quickly readied their bows. They loosed arrows into the darkness. There was a shout, then noises of something heavy falling and sliding, followed by silence. Kasey took a few steps forward, then there were the sounds of others running in the forest.
Adria and Eric both agreed that they heard two more people running. They selected targets, then fired into the darkness, arrows flying as quickly as they could draw them. Soon, silence once more enclosed the party.
"Let's check the bodies," Kasey suggested. He pointed to a few Church Knights who accompanied him into the trees.
They returned a few minutes later.
"They were drow," Kasey said. "Three of them. They must have been laying in wait. They definitely were not an ambush. I think they just sent a warning, and nothing more."
"We could charge the mansion Sturm saw," Adria said.
"It took me two hours to get there on foot," the Sun Knight offered.
"If we keep the horses moving quickly, we can get there in about twenty minutes, then," Eric estimated. "Let's mount up and go."
The party and their escorts quickly trotted their horses down the trail.
Twenty tense minutes passed as the column made their way down the trail. The trees ahead opened to reveal their destination on the other side of a small valley. The mansion was brilliant in the darkness, a whitish stone that stood out in the dark of the forest. It had a low wall around it, hardly enough to stop a concerted military attack, but enough to keep riff-raff out. The front gates were wide open. The mansion itself was square, two stories tall, with a central courtyard. Some windows were lit, but there was no movement visible in those lighted windows.
Bilbus surveyed the mansion through his spyglass. He lowered the glass and carefully put it away in its leather case. "So, what's the plan?"
Adria tipped her head towards Eric. "Ask the General."
"Oh, Lord High Worshipfullness General, what is the plan? Leave Kasey and the Church Knights here as a reserve as we go in?"
Eric thought for a moment.
Bilbus grew impatient. "Do you think they saw the arrow?" he asked.
"Yes," Eric replied.
"So the butler is waiting for us," Bilbus concluded.
Eric did not follow the mountebank's train of thought. "And?"
"We walk up to the front door," Bilbus finished.
"This is the stupidest plan ever," Adria grumbled.
"I can't think of a better one," Eric admitted.
Rishala and Breanna readied various castings to protect their friends. Eric looked over the mansion again with his spyglass, trying to find troops of some sort, but there were none. Whoever was home was not leaving guards out in the open. He put his spyglass away and rode towards the mansion.
By the time the trail reached the front gates of the mansion, it had transformed into a road. Old wagon tracks marked where traffic had once used the trail, but even here there were no signs of recent traffic. The road continued past the mansion, leading off into the forest once more. Eric led the party through the open gates of the wall and towards the mansion.
The mansion was on a rise. The gates of the wall led to a corridor that passed underneath the mansion, and climbed directly to the courtyard. All eyes looked for signs of murder holes or other traps in the corridor, but there were none. The party soon found themselves in the courtyard of the mansion.
A round fountain occupied the middle of the yard. It was dry, with nothing but a few brown leaves and some dirt in the bottom of it. Two gnarled trees flanked the entry corridor, and a few sickly bushes lined the edges of the courtyard. Opposite the corridor was a pair of doors at the top of a few low steps. Ensconced torches to either side of the doors burned steadily, without flickering or smoking, casting a steady yellowish light on the entire court.
The gate walls slammed shut suddenly. The party looked back, but no one was near the doors. As quickly, the doors to the mansion opened. A man escorted by four drow soldiers walked out of the doors to stand on the steps. He smiled, his pale face and thin lips made all the more unsettling when lit only by the bluish glow of the night. The four drow had spread out, bows held readied.
"We meet at last in the flesh," the pale man said. "Welcome, friends. I have been expecting you. You have had a long journey. Please, Sturm. Join me for dinner."
Sturm took halting steps forward. Kasey grabbed him. Sturm tried to walk forward, but made no effort to shrug free of the tall Church Knight.
"Eric, give me a hand," Kasey grunted. "We can put him on Farran. He won't get loose that way."
The knight and the explorer manhandled Sturm into Farran's saddle.
The pale man smiled graciously, revealing sharply pointed fangs. "I did not mean to suggest that the rest of you are not also invited. Please, all of you should join us."
Eric walked over to Sir Goudge. "Keep six men out here with the horses. The rest come with us."
Sir Goudge nodded and picked six knights to remain as guards. The rest dismounted to follow the party in. Kasey grabbed Farran's reins, intending to lead the warhorse into the mansion.
Eric approached the stairs and the man. The pointed teeth were prominent in his smile. Eric had heard stories of vampires, but had never expected to be standing just paces away from one. He quickly diverted his attention away from the pointed teeth, towards the pitch black drow who guarded the vampire. As the drow turned to go back inside, one glanced towards one of several unlit second story windows.
Hells, Eric realized. There are more of them.
The vampire led the party into the mansion. Eric could hear the metallic ring of Farran's steel-shod hooves on the marble flooring behind him. Bilbus spoke quietly to Adria about some of the statuary in the grand entry hall as they passed by it. The interior was well lit, with steadily-burning torches and lanterns casting surprising amounts of light. Past the entry hall, the vampire turned right, leading the party down a smaller hall that ended in a spiral staircase, leading down.
The vampire turned back to the party. "I am sorry, but the horse will not fit on the stairs."
Kasey looked skeptically at the vampire.
Eric shook his head. "No, Kasey. Take Farran back out and bring Sturm. Have a couple of knights stay close to him."
Kasey tapped a couple of knights, then led Farran outside, with the two knights following. When he returned a couple of minutes later, Kasey had used hobbles to attach Sturm's wrists to those of the two knights. They were makeshift manacles, but they appeared to work well enough.
Once Kasey had returned, the vampire led the party down the spiral stairs. The stairs opened into a large banquet room. The room was lavishly appointed, with tapestries on the walls and a long table stacked with food of all varieties. Plush chairs lined both sides of the table at settings that were ready for guests. At the far end of the table was a larger chair whose back faced a large fireplace. The fire burned, less steady than the small fires, but still not flickering naturally. Above the fireplace was a mantle that held numerous crystal figurines, and the sinister spear from Sturm's dreams was above them, sitting on a pair of metal hooks that jutted from the wall. The spear looked unkempt. Dark stains discolored the shaft, and bits of dried, rotted flesh hung from the spearhead. The spearhead itself was likewise stained.
The vampire took a seat and gestured to his guests to do likewise. Most of the party sat, but Kasey went to inspect the crystal figures. The drow took positions along the long walls of the rooms, two behind each of the rows of guests. Kasey eventually returned to take a seat at the table.
The vampire sipped from a wine goblet. "I would offer you some of my wine, but I suspect you would not want it. Please, please. I am Vladdomani. This is my mansion, as it has been for many years. Welcome. And who are you? I already know Sturm, of course. We have met, after a fashion."
Eric evaded the question. "Where are your servants? I have not seen any. Surely a mansion like this needs a staff to maintain it."
"Mmmmm," Vladdomani said. He set his goblet down. "Servants are best unseen, and unheard. Please, serve yourselves."
Kasey blurted, "What about the ones in the forest? We heard them."
Bilbus noticed one of the drow react to the question. It narrowed its eyes as it stared at the back of Kasey's head. Bilbus had an idea. He just needed an opening.
The party grabbed food from the platters. The vampire ate nothing, but made small talk as the party ate. The food was remarkably bland, worse than some of the less inspired meals served in Londoun, but it was edible.
"I must say, I appreciate the decor in here," Eric said.
"Oh?" Vladdomani responded.
"Yeah," Kasey agreed. "I like the ducky over there," he pointed towards the mantle with a mutton leg he held.
"Yes," Eric said, ignoring Kasey's interruption. "We are interested in some of these things. They're unlike what we have at home."
"Such as?" the vampire smiled again.
Bilbus, across from Eric, glanced towards a tapestry.
"That tapestry," Eric said, gesturing towards it. "The 'ducky'. But I must say that most of our interest is in the object over the mantle. It is very unusual."
Vladdomani frowned, maintaining his gracious airs. "I am afraid that it is not possible to part with that item. I am very attached to it."
"Is it impolite to ask why?" Eric prompted.
"Yes," the vampire said flatly.
"Then I am sorry to ask. Why are you attached to it?"
"I am very attached to it."
Bilbus saw Rishala sit bolt upright. The story teller had had some sort of revelation. The Caledonian's eyes were blazing with fright. He looked at Bilbus, unwilling to speak outright in the presence of the vampire.
"Great," Bilbus muttered quietly. "We might need to use the spear."
Eric had not noticed Rishala's reaction. He continued to converse with the vampire. "Why are you using drow?"
"A friend provided them for security. She warned me that you might be coming."
Eric decided to stop beating around the bush. "Why are you keeping the spear?"
Vladdomani answered directly. "It was a gift from your Great Lord. And it was not supposed to be easy for you to get here. From what I understood, those Portals were inaccessible for your kind."
Bilbus snorted quietly. Speaking loudly enough to be sure the drow heard him, he said, "It is really a funny state of affairs, the noble drow elves are nothing more than lackeys for this human, or former human."
There was a distinctive strumming of a drow plucking a bowstring behind Bilbus. He smiled to himself. He glanced surreptitiously towards his friends. Eric still engaged the vampire in talk. Rishala had masked his initial panic, but was on edge. Kasey was overly-focused on gnawing on the end of a mutton leg. Adria felt tense, but kept an outward calm demeanor. Breanna looked scared. Sturm sat directly opposite Bilbus, staring blankly forward, flanked with Church Knights sitting to either side of him. The rest of the Church Knights were on edge.
Bilbus spoke a little louder. "The baroness must have sent her problem troops here. I've seen higher quality drow. I mean, really. The one shot a signal flare up and took off running, but he could not bother to give himself some magickal protections? And his two buddies? That was inexcusable. They had warning, and they had to have heard the first one getting shot down. Hells, the drow we fought at Yeti Pass, right up from Erelhei Cinlu, were able to stop our charge, and that was three of them. These guys are just lazy and sloppy."
The drow behind Bilbus cussed loudly. Bilbus had no idea what the drow said, but the way it was said was vile. The curse was quickly followed by the snap of a bowstring, and an arrow shot past Bilbus's head, missing by an inch, and struck Sturm solidly in the chest. The magickal shielding that Breanna had put on Sturm, and the protective necklace that he wore, slowed the arrow until it merely hit Sturm's breastplate with a metallic thwack.
The two Church Knights guarding Sturm both tackled the Sun Knight and put him on the ground. Bilbus whirled about to face the drow who had attacked him as Kasey hurled his mutton leg across the table at the drow. The end of the bone was sharpened from Kasey's gnawing, and it struck the startled drow resoundingly in the throat. The drow clutched at the bone as blood started pouring from around it.
Adria was on her feet, bringing her bow to the ready, in an instant. She loosed an arrow at one of the surprised drow before the drow could react. The knights stood and charged drow. Vladdomani shouted for people to stop, but no one listened to him.
Kasey turned on the vampire, bringing Caladbolg to the ready. There was a surge of dark Heka, and Kasey vanished. His armor and weapon fell noisily to the ground.
What the Hells? Eric wondered. He snapped an arrow at Vladdomani. The arrow struck the vampire, who laughed. Eric staggered as he felt the pain of an arrow striking him. He clutched his midsection. There was blood, but there was no arrow. And Vladdomani was uninjured.
"He's using magick to protect himself!" Eric gasped.
One of the drow loosed an arrow at Adria, puncturing her side painfully. She returned fire, stapling the drow's head to the wall.
With another surge of Heka, Eric vanished. His bow and gear fell to the ground.
"Grab the table," Adria shouted. "Push him into the fire!"
Several knights grabbed the table, shoving it forward. As they did so, both Breanna and Rishala channeled Heka into the end of the table nearest the vampire, igniting it instantly. Adria continued to fire arrows at the remaining drow as other Church Knights quickly overwhelmed them. The vampire was pushed into the fireplace, sandwiched between the inferno in the fireplace and the burning table. He, too, disappeared.
Adria looked around. The two remaining drow were dead. The fire had ignited the vampire's chair and his table. The flame had grown, and it was threatening the spear. Eric and Kasey had vanished. Adria ignored the pain in her side for a moment.
"Tear down the tapestries to use as bags," she ordered the Church Knights. "Get Kasey's and Eric's gear in them and let's get the Hells out of here!"
"We should grab those crystals," Bilbus recommended.
"Leave the crystals. We would have to get past the fire to get them."
Bilbus ran towards the fire. He carefully knocked the spear free, tossing it onto one of the bags. He grabbed the crystals, ignoring the searing heat from the fireplace, and threw them down on the ground. They shattered, leaving small crystalline fragments all about. Kasey and Eric reappeared, both naked. Bilbus's suspicions about the crystals were right. They had been magickal storage devices of some sort.
The rest of the party had evacuated the room already, along with the Church Knights.
"Come on!" Bilbus urged as he ran for the stairs. Kasey and Eric, both looking confused, followed.
They quickly caught up with everyone else in the atrium. Kasey and Eric quickly dressed. There was a fight going on outside, and horses were screaming. Several of the Church Knights readied castings.
When Kasey and Eric had clothes on, the party rushed into the courtyard. Drow were firing down into the yard from upper floor windows, pinning the six knights in the middle. Three horses were down, still twitching, and two of the Church Knights had drow arrows in them. Rishala and Breanna both directed fireblasts at windows, disrupting the drow attack long enough to get into the courtyard and on horses.
Farran had run down to the wall's gates, where he was busily kicking at the stout wood in an effort to open the door. Kasey sprinted towards the kelpie as Bilbus surged Heka into the door. The doors splintered open, and the party raced out into the darkness. A few hundred paces down the road, when it was clear that the drow were not pursuing, the party stopped to tend to the wounded.
Breanna removed the arrow from Adria's side. She was about to throw it aside when Adria stopped her.
"I want to keep the arrowhead. I'll make it into a pendant."
Breanna looked at the bloody arrowhead. She had to admit, if it were cleaned up, it did have an artistic aesthetic to it.
Breanna finished treating Adria. By the time she was finished, the Church Knights had made their rounds as well. The party was about to get back on their horses when Eric noticed something flying overhead. He could just make out the silhouette of a bat, a darker spot blocking the stars above. Instinctively, he snapped an arrow at the bat. As soon as he had loosed the arrow, he regretted it. He remembered what happened the last time he shot the vampire.
With a curse, Eric doubled over, a horrific arrow wound on his chest. Breanna and Rishala quickly converged on him, both channeling Heka into the wound to stabilize it.
"That's it," Bilbus growled. "I am going to unravel that shield. If you hear a surprised squeak, shoot that thing."
He surged Heka towards the bat, stabbing it into the intricate weavings that formed the protective magicks of the transformed vampire.
Sturm readied an arrow to fire into it.
"Squeak!" Bilbus shouted.
Sturm loosed the arrow. It struck the bat, but did not wound it. Bilbus cursed loudly. The vampire had more than one protective magick readied.
Adria quickly fired two arrows at the bat. They, too, stopped short of injuring the creature.
Eric climbed back onto his horse. "Forget the bat! We can ride faster than it can fly. Ride!"
The party quickly scrambled onto horses and rode for the temple and the Portal within.
The party reached the temple quickly. They led their horses into the octagonal stone building and hurried towards the Portal.
"It's a vampire, right?" Breanna asked. "This was a good temple at one time. If we clean it, and sanctify it, it will keep Vladdomani out!"
"Good idea," Bilbus said. He quickly directed Heka into one of the statues. The material befouling it quickly fell to the ground. Church Knights followed his example, and one of them prayed over the altar in the middle of the temple.
The change was subtle, but still noticeable. A feeling of confidence washed through the party, and they could feel a powerful, beneficent force in the temple.
Bilbus felt a surge of darkness overhead. Through the open skylight, he could see the bat.
"Hells!" Bilbus shouted. "He can't get in here, but he can still throw Heka at us!"
Bilbus ran to the Portal. The exhaustion from the Heka he had been using had grown over the hours, but he surged Heka into the Portal nonetheless. He leaned against the pinkish granite, tired, as the stone door dissolved. Bilbus fell through the now-open Portal as an explosion of dark energy exploded in the temple. It took a few minutes for the party and the Church Knights to get their horses through the Portal as Vladdomani pelted them with black magicks.
Once the party was safely through the Portal, Eric met with Sir Atenburg.
"We need to move out right away," Eric said. "We may be followed. We probably slowed them down for a while, but it won't last long. What happened here?"
"It has been quiet," Atenburg replied. "We have guards at all three Tunnels, but nothing has happened."
"Good. Let's get moving."
Once Kasey had collected the rest of his armor and equipment, Adria showed Bilbus the tapestry that had been used to carry it. The tapestry depicted a pastoral scene, with farmers tilling a field and a forest abundant with game nearby.
"It's nice," she said, looking at the shades of gray of the tapestry. "It looks much better in color. We will have to find a place to put it."
Adria carefully rolled the tapestry up and tied it behind the saddle on her horse.
Rishala gathered with his companions. "Vladdomani was not a normal vampire. A typical vampire..."
"Typical?" Bilbus interrupted.
Rishala scowled at the mountebank. "A typical vampire is a preternatural vampire. It's undead. It feeds on the blood of the living to survive." He paused. "Vladdomani is a supernatural vampire. He's unalive. He doesn't have to feed on blood. He can draw life force directly. Drain the soul, as it were. Supernatural vampires have a 'soul object', a focus for their life force. Destroying the soul object destroys the vampire. We can't kill him otherwise. He would just vanish and reform at his soul object later."
"So, what is his soul object?" Bilbus asked.
"I think it's Gas Bulg. The spear," Rishala hypothesized. "That would explain why he is so attached to it, as he said."
"Great. So we have to destroy that spear to kill the vampire," Bilbus grumbled. "And we can't destroy it until we've stopped the Great Lord."
"Exactly. And if we can kill him, he would just rematerialize eventually by the spear."
"Should we trap the Portal?" Breanna suggested.
"No," Bilbus said. "If this Vladdomani has magickal protections like he has been using, it will just hurt whoever sets the trap."
"The army's about ready to move," Eric said. "We need to figure out where to go."
"There are ten Islands in the Portals," Bilbus said. He pulled out a journal and thumbed through it to show his schematic sketch. "I know where some of them go. One of them must go to Brallian, from what they said in the meeting I attended in Londoun. We should take a look at them. The one we passed on our way here is one of them. Let's head back to 'DIM'."
"Agreed," Eric said. "Let's go."
Bilbus turned to Rishala. "I think I figured out the orc naming scheme. Each Island has a two or three letter name. Each Island connected to it has one common letter. For instance, we're on 'CIL'. We're heading to 'DIM'. The 'I' is common. I think the letters are the names of Tunnels."
"Aye. You just now figured this out?" Rishala laughed.
Bilbus threw his hands up in frustration and went back to Acquisition 2.
Eric sent Church Knight riders forward, then led the rest of the column of men, wagons, and horses into the Tunnel.
Eight hours of tedious marching through the gray-fog-walled Tunnel ended at Island DIM. As the army made camp, the party went to the Portal. Bilbus pushed Heka into the Portal until the middle of it disappeared. They looked into a wooden room, somewhat dusty. Against the far wall of the room was a tall vase, nearly five feet tall, with a placard next to it. A young woman walked by, wearing one of the short, revealing dresses popular in Hellenas. Her black hair was tied up in a bun, and she intently studied a sheet of paper affixed to a wooden tablet that she carried.
"Shut it," Eric quietly ordered.
"Okay. 'DIM' is Hellenas," Bilbus surmised, a slight grin on his face at the image of the Hellenic student. The grin faded. "And they've already dug the Portal out of the rubble of their antiquities building."
"At least it's not a dangerous place to camp," Eric pointed out. "We'll post camp here to rest and let the priests tend to the wounded. And, next time we open a Portal, we'll make sure we have troops ready, in case it's not a friendly destination."
When everyone had stirred again, Eric sent them down a different Tunnel. Instead of heading towards DGL and the Middle Ranges exit, he sent them towards Island EFM.
Once there, Eric had archers readied at the Portal when Bilbus opened in. This Portal looked into a lantern-lit stone-walled room. Two guards with crossbows stood at a door opposite the Portal. When they saw the Portal open, they raised their crossbows.
Eric recognized the uniforms they wore. "That's Suderpol. Where we were thrown into the caves."
As Bilbus unraveled the casting, Adria loosed an arrow at one of the guards. The arrow punched through the man's face and struck the stone beyond. The Portal solidified again before the other crossbowman could strike.
"We should not stay here," Eric said. "They could have someone who could pursue us."
"We can go to FJN," Bilbus proposed. "I was there before. That's the Portal where Axransa's tower was. There's nothing but rubble on the other side of it. Oh, and don't let anyone mess with the rubble near the Portal. Remember what Bree did to the Sunkeep? I did something similar to the rubble."
The army marched off, nine hours from where they had started and eight hours from camp.
The army moved off from Island FJN after resting, heading towards another uncharted Island, Island BHJ. Once more, archers readied at the Portal as Bilbus opened it.
Two men and two drow stood guard in a large room with fitted stone walls. The men wore the uniforms of Arabel Cinlu town watch. The two drow both quickly loosed arrows at Bilbus. The mountebank quickly moved to deflect the arrows, but one struck him resoundingly in the chest. He fell to the ground as he unweaved the Portal.
"Let's get moving!" Eric shouted. "Go! Bree, heal him while we're moving, if you can."
Bilbus gasped as Breanna removed the arrow. "Bree, trap some poles from one of the wagons, and lean them on the Portal, so if the drow chase us, they'll fall out and explode."
Breanna nodded and ran to get poles. Adria picked up the arrow Breanna had discarded. "This would make a nice earring," she said as she looked at the arrowhead. "If you get shot again, I'll have a matched pair."
"Nice," Bilbus grunted as she helped him to his feet.
"Bilbus, where do we go from here?" Eric asked.
Bilbus remembered which Islands connected to this one. "We can't go to ABE. That's Erelhei Cinlu. We should go back to BHJ. It's safe."
"What's the third Island?"
"We don't want to go there. It's HKN. That's Camelough."
"We'll head there," Eric decided.
"It's too far north. It would take us weeks to get to Brallian."
"It's a friendly Portal," Eric countered. "We can get out and resupply there if we need to do so. We march to Camelough, and rest there."
After departing the Camelough Island, the army marched for sixteen hours, passing across Island GK -- which Bilbus identified as the Portal that led to the Claw Fang Tribe's capitol south of the dwarven nation of Clemendeev -- back to Island DGL, where they had started their journey through the Portals.
Bilbus insisted on resting before opening the Portals. Over sixteen hours of mind-numbing darkness had taken its toll on him, and he did not believe he would be able to open the Portal enough times to get everyone out. Reluctantly, Eric agreed.
"We can't leave yet," Bilbus said after the army had packed up to leave the Tunnels.
"What do you mean?" Eric asked guardedly.
"I want to scout to AC. That Island has to be Brallian. They said there was a Portal under construction in Brallian. I'll take some scouts with me. We need to know where that one goes."
"Bilbus, you realize there is a good chance you will not return if you're wrong."
"We need to know what is there. If it is Brallian, it saves us about two weeks of travel time. I can take some scouts, we can push hard and get there and back in no time. It's two Islands away -- we pass the vampire's Island, and there we are. Thirty two hours." And time to rest before I can let everyone out, he did not add.
"This is going to be cruel," Eric hesitated. "Who will raise your child, Bilbus? If you get killed, Adria will have no one. For that matter, you will kill all of us. We are trapped here without you."
Bilbus's expression hardened. "I'm going to AC. You can sit here and wait for me." He walked towards his horse.
Eric cursed in Karasimian. "We're not leaving yet," he shouted. "One more Island to check. Break camp. We follow Bilbus."
The trip had been dull, as had all of them recently. Ten outriders were ahead of the main column by several minutes, far enough ahead that they were out of sight in the pitch dark of the Tunnel. The party had passed Island CIL without incident. There had been no sign of any activity at the Island, but it was also hard to tell since the Islands were hard stone. By anyone's best guess, the head of the army was less than fifteen minutes from Island AC.
One of the knights approached from ahead. He was slumped over on the horse, which limped perilously. Arrows stuck from the rider's back, and there were burns and patches of singed hair on the horse. The knight stopped next to Eric's horse as Breanna rushed up to tend to him.
"We were ambushed by drow," the knight said weakly. "There were hundreds of them. The rest of the outriders are dead. They're in pursuit. I might have a few minutes lead on them."
Eric cursed loudly. The army was tired after sixteen hours marching. There was no way they could hold off a concerted attack, even in the confines of the Tunnel. And there was no way they could push forward. They had to turn back.
"Turn back!" Eric shouted. "We have to head back, now! Get the wagons turned!"
Orders relayed back by shouts, past the rebel Sun Knights to the support wagons. A reply was shouted forward: "There is no room to turn the wagons without rolling into the fog."
Eric glared at Bilbus. "They can't go into the fog," Bilbus confirmed.
Eric shouted back new orders. "Wagons to the side of the Tunnel. We leave them here. Gather whatever you can of the supplies, and load them onto the oxen! We have no time!"
Precious minutes passed as wagonmasters unhitched oxen and started leading them back, past the wagons. Other support personnel loaded anything they could onto the oxen. Soon, the army was retreating back down the Tunnel.
As the party, now the back of the army, reached the wagons, Rishala and Breanna stopped to randomly place magickal traps on them. Both were tiring quickly, between the effort of all of the magick use and the hours that had passed since there was any rest.
The retreat was exhausting, with no one having time to stop and rest. Priests and Church Knights were busied using healing magicks on the animals, treating lameness, as well as healing men and women who were succumbing to fatigue.
It had been thirty-five hours since the army had last made camp when they once more reached Island DGL. Bilbus fought the exhaustion he felt to keep the Portal open long enough to get the army out. It was quicker going without the wagons, but the mountebank was still on the brink of collapse by the time he had stumbled out of the Portal, the last of the army to leave.
It was a few days before the new moon. The ruins of the orc city were almost as dark as the Island the army had left, but they were much colder. Men stumbled about near the granite slab.
"We need to bury the Portal," Eric shouted. "And we have very little time! The drow have probably caught up with us!"
Exhausted men threw stones and burned wooden supports from the rubble around the Portal, covering it as quickly as possible. By the time the task was complete, they were all bruised and bloodied from the effort.
Eric gathered the commanders. "Set camp here. Post heavy watches, to make sure men stay awake. Try to keep the watch times short, too. And I need an inventory of what supplies made it out."
"Yes, sir," Sir Atenburg said. Sir Goudge merely nodded. Both walked away.
Eric spotted Bilbus walking away from the chaos at the Portal.
"Bilbus!" Eric shouted. He could feel the veins on his head pounding. It felt like he was going to explode. Bilbus stopped and looked back at Eric.
Eric strode across the rubble field to the mountebank. When he caught up, he screamed loudly, "What in the Nine Hells do you think you were doing in there?"
Bilbus glanced past Eric at the people who were watching the exchange. They looked scared. "Relax, Eric. We're safe. I felt them open the Portal. They saw the rubble and kept going."
"You cost us our supply trains, Bilbus. We lost some men because they were trying to get the wagons close to the edge of the Tunnel, so we could get by. The wagon slid through the fog like it had fallen off a cliff. Half of our Church Knights are dead. We have little food, no tents, in the dead of winter, with a six day march to Kells! You held us hostage while you had the only keys out of that place! Do you have any understanding of what is at stake here? What you nearly cost us?"
"Hey, we made it out of there, and we gathered a lot of valuable information. AC is not Brallian."
"I don't care if it is!" Eric caught himself. "Just stay the Hells away from me, Bilbus. For both our sakes."
Eric stormed away from the mountebank.
Bilbus wandered farther into the rubble of the former orc city. He kicked a small pile of debris, ignoring the sharp pain it caused in his foot. "We didn't need to find a shortcut to Brallian," he realized aloud. "We have to go to Kells, anyway. We didn't need to go to AC. We could have left. They didn't need to die." He kicked the rubble again, stumbling this time as the agony in his feet overwhelmed him. Rolling onto his back, trying not to let the chill of the night affect him, he stared at the stars, cursing to himself until exhaustion overtook him.
Back to the previous chapter: Tunnels
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Original Draft 16 February 2004
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