by Tim Waggoner
Ksana’s normally placid face clouded over with anger, and she gestured sharply toward a mass of dead soldiers. “You consider them a waste of time? Has your spirit become so poisoned by the corruption you carry with you that you’ve lost all common decency?”
Ksana’s words stung, but Lirra did her best not to let her feelings show. She started to answer, but Vaddon put a hand on her shoulder-it was the first time he’d touched her since she’d joined with the tentacle whip-to gently silence her.
“Lirra’s right,” he said, “and you know it. Sometimes hard choices have to be made on the field of battle. This isn’t the first time we’ve faced them. We’ll leave the dead for now, and if possible, we shall return to give them a proper burial. As for the wounded, quickly tend to those who cannot travel. The rest you can heal as we march.”
Ksana looked as if she might argue, but then she let out a sigh, nodded, and left to inspect the wounded. Vaddon raised his voice so that the rest of the surviving members of the Outguard could hear him.
“We march in five minutes, people! Make ready!”
Vaddon then turned back to Lirra. “Good enough?” he asked.
“I suppose it’ll have to be.”
He nodded then walked off to make sure his soldiers followed his orders. She turned to the two warforged and gestured to the dolgrim she’d questioned.
“Longstrider, carry him a safe distance away from this place and tuck him into a tree. Not too high, mind you. Shatterfist, you stay here and stand guard while we regroup and prepare to move out.”
Longstrider nodded, scooped up the dolgrim as if he weighed nothing, and strode off into the forest. Shatterfirst looked around at the carnage that surrounded them.
“As I understand it, humans sometimes use humor to lighten the mood after a tragic event has occurred. Perhaps I could-”
Lirra, Ranja, and Osten turned to the construct and shouted in unison.
“No!”
The warforged crossed his stone and metal arms over his chest. “Fine,” he huffed. “Look, this is me, standing guard.”
A few moments later Longstrider returned, and the Outguard was ready to march. From a group of around sixty soldiers, they were down to just over twenty. A hard loss, especially after only a single encounter with Elidyr’s forces. Lirra wondered what else her uncle had in store for them. She supposed they would soon find out.
Vaddon gave the command, and the Outguard started marching.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
They found the cave entrance precisely where the dolgrim said they would. The hill was barren, rocky, and rather lopsided, as if somewhere in the distant past a mountain had tried to thrust its way up through the earth and had barely gotten started before giving up.
The entrance to the caves wasn’t hard to spot. It lay at the southern base, and the opening was large enough for the soldiers to fit through one at a time, warforged included, though just barely in the constructs’ case. Lirra assumed the tunnels would be narrow, though passable, since Elidyr, Sinnoch, and Rhedyn had been able to make their way through. Lirra felt a rush of anger at the thought of seeing Rhedyn again. Right then she wanted nothing more than to wrap her hands around his traitorous neck and-
That’s right, get good and mad. We’ll be able to use your anger when it’s time to shed blood again …
Hearing the thought-voice’s words, Lirra forced herself to calm down. The last thing she wanted to do right now was give her symbiont a stronger grip on her mind, and if she allowed herself to be carried away by anger, that’s exactly what would happen.
“Here you go,” Ranja said. “As promised. Now that I’ve led you to Elidyr’s lair, my job’s finished, and since there’s an excellent chance that none of you will survive to leave the caves, I’d appreciate it if you could pay me my fee in full before you enter.”
Osten took a step toward the shifter, his hand falling to the pommel of his sword.
“Why you mercenary little-”
Lirra shushed Osten and laid a hand on his arm to keep him from moving any closer to Ranja. But the shifter took a step toward Osten, her features becoming a touch more feral.
“I was hired to do a job and I did it,” she said. “There’s no shame in that, nor is there any in my wanting to be paid for my contribution.”
Vaddon scowled, but he reached inside his uniform and withdrew a purse full of silver from a pocket. He tossed it to Ranja, and the shifter woman caught it easily and made it disappear into one of her own pockets. She then flashed Vaddon a smile.
“Pleasure doing business with you, General.”
“So what will you do now?” Osten asked. “Head back to Geirrid while we risk our lives to stop Elidyr?”
“I think I’ll stick around for a bit longer, just to see how things turn out,” Ranja said. She turned to Vaddon. “I assume you’re going to station some people outside the entrance to guard the backs of those going in. I’ll remain out here with them, if you don’t mind.”
“Suit yourself,” Vaddon said. “But don’t think you’re going to get paid any more for staying.”
“Of course not, General. I’m well satisfied with what I’ve acquired.” Ranja looked at Lirra and gave her a quick smile.
Lirra understood. The shifter spy had gained all the knowledge she needed, and if she couldn’t find a way to blackmail Bergerron, she’d simply go ahead with her original plan and deliver the information to Raskogr. Either way, more silver lay in her future. Before she’d joined with her symbiont, Lirra would’ve reacted to the shifter’s mercenary nature much the same way Osten had-with hostility and derision. After all, Lirra was a Karrnathi soldier, and she performed her duties out of loyalty to her country and a desire to serve its people, not in hopes of lining her own pockets. But now she couldn’t find it in herself to think badly of Ranja. As much as Lirra had been raised by her father, and later trained at the Rekkenmark Academy, to view the world in simplistic black-and-white terms, in the last few days she’d come to realize that, in truth, existence all too often consisted of varying shades of gray. Lirra knew she and the others wouldn’t have gotten this far without Ranja’s help, and she was grateful for the shifter’s aid. And if this was where they parted company, then so be it.
Lirra gave Ranja a nod before turning to her father.
“So what’s the plan?” she asked.
Vaddon raised an eyebrow, and Lirra smiled. “You are in command of this mission,” she reminded him.
Vaddon selected a half-dozen men and women to stand guard outside the cave. Lirra noted that he picked those who had been most seriously wounded during the battle with the dolgrims, and she could well guess why. While Ksana had used her healing powers to repair the soldiers’ injuries, they were still somewhat weak. Better they guarded the others’ rear flank than enter the caves to face whatever threats might lie within.
“The rest of us will go inside,” Vaddon said. “Lirra, you will lead the way and Osten shall accompany you. Ksana and I will come next, and the warforged shall follow us.” He turned to face the remainder of the Outguard. “The rest of you line up in pairs. If the tunnels are too narrow to permit us to walk two abreast, then we’ll go single file. Lanterns out, and keep your swords in hand at all times unless there’s not enough room to wield them efficiently, in which case, sheath them and switch to daggers. Any questions?”
“I know I’m not going with you,” Ranja said, “but I have a question: What do you intend to do once you find Elidyr?”
Lirra responded to the shifter’s query. “We’ll destroy the Overmantle and attempt to take Elidyr, Sinnoch, and Rhedyn into custody.”
“And in the extremely likely event that they resist?” Ranja asked.
Lirra’s mouth was set in a grim line as she answered. “If it comes down to that … we’ll do what has to be done.” She turned to look at Vaddon, and though she saw the same conflict she felt mirrored in her father’s eyes, the general nodded. Neither of them wanted to kill Elidyr, but if h
e gave them no choice …
There was nothing more to be said after that. The Outguard lined up as Vaddon had ordered, and-with Lirra leading the way-they entered the caves.
“They’re here,” Sinnoch said.
Elidyr hadn’t moved from his sitting position since he’d begun work on the Overmantle. He hadn’t slept, hadn’t paused for food or drink. Now he looked up at the dolgaunt with tired eyes.
“So soon? Time truly does fly when you’re enjoying yourself.”
Rhedyn had been sitting with his back against the cave wall, dozing. But at the dolgaunt’s words he leaped to his feet. “Could it be the dolgrims returning?”
“Doubtful,” Elidyr said as he touched an etheric-balancing rod to several individual crystals on the reconstructed Overmantle. “I didn’t expect the dolgrims to stop my brother and his soldiers, just slow them down a bit. It’ll take more than a handful of dolgrims, even augmented as they were, to put my brother and my niece in the ground.” He smiled to himself. “That’s a pleasure I’m reserving for myself.” Elidyr made one last adjustment with the rod, then leaned back to admire his work. “There! That should do it!” He paused. “I hope.”
Rhedyn walked over to stand next to Elidyr, and Sinnoch glided over to join them.
“What do you mean?” the young warrior asked.
“I did the best I could, considering that I lacked the proper parts and equipment,” Elidyr said, a trifle defensively. “Not only was I forced to redesign the device, I had to make certain … improvisations here and there.”
“But it will work, yes?” Sinnoch asked.
“Oh, yes,” Elidyr confirmed. “At least, it will activate. As to what it will precisely do …” Grinning, he touched a switch to bring the Overmantle to life.
Rippling waves of energy poured out of the device, its power filling the entirety of Sinnoch’s cave.
Lirra held her sword in her right hand, and she kept her left free to wield the tentacle whip, so she carried no lantern to light the way. That duty fell to Osten, who stood on her left, an everbright lantern held in his left hand, sword in his right. The lantern’s glow was eerie in the confined space of the tunnel, and the shadows it cast seemed to move with a life of their own. When they’d first entered the tunnel, it was so cramped they could barely walk in single file, but as the tunnel sloped downward, it opened up somewhat, and two people could walk side by side-though the squat, blocky Shatter-fist still needed to walk by himself in order to fit. There was enough room for them to keep their swords out, though if it became necessary to fight, there’d be precious little maneuvering room. They moved in silence, no one speaking, everyone careful to keep from brushing up against the tunnel walls more than necessary, and they were especially careful to keep their weapons away from the walls, lest the sound of steel scraping against stone gave their presence away.
Not that Elidyr doesn’t know we’re coming, Lirra thought. One way or another, she was certain her uncle was aware that they were closing in. After all, hadn’t he sent the dolgrims out to attack them? But she remembered something she’d learned at Rekkenmark: Never give a foe an advantage you didn’t need to. If there was even the slightest chance Elidyr didn’t know they were coming, the Outguard would remain silent.
The tunnel continued to slope downward as they progressed, and Lirra tried to use her new senses to feel the way ahead, casting about for any hint of symbionts or other aberrations. The base of her skull tingled and a familiar nausea roiled in her stomach. She could feel the presence of corruption somewhere out in front of them, and it was strong-far stronger than anything she’d ever felt before. It was repellant, but at the same time strangely alluring. Part of her wanted to turn back and flee in terror, while another part of her wanted to run forward to reach the foul presence as fast as she could.
What is it? she mentally asked the tentacle whip.
Chaos.
She leaned close to Osten and whispered in his ear.
“Do you feel that?”
“I feel something,” he whispered back. “Whatever it is, it’s setting my teeth on edge. Too bad the shifter isn’t here. Perhaps she could make something of it.”
A second voice whispered in Lirra’s other ear. “It’s good to know I’m appreciated.”
Lirra turned to her right, startled to hear Ranja speaking, but no one walked there. At first Lirra feared she’d only imagined the shifter’s voice, that perhaps it was a new sort of mind trick the tentacle whip was playing on her. But then she realized what Ranja had done. The woman had used one of the magical toys she employed to render herself invisible, and then she’d sneaked past the other members of the Outguard until she’d reached the front of the line where Lirra and Osten were.
Lirra smiled. When going into battle, it was always good to have a surprise or two prepared for your enemy, and with any luck, Ranja would prove to be one hell of a surprise for Elidyr.
They continued onward, and the tingling in her skull and her nausea grew stronger as they walked, along with the strange compulsion to keep going forward. She raised her hand and made several gestures to let her father know they were getting close, even if she wasn’t entirely certain close to what. Vaddon answered with a single gesture that meant Message received, before silently relaying Lirra’s message to the warforged, who passed it back to the soldiers behind them, and so on. Within moments, everyone in the tunnel knew the time for battle was close at hand, and they did their best to mentally prepare themselves for whatever lay in wait ahead. Lirra had experienced the last few moments before battle more times than she could remember. Some soldiers became nervous and had to work hard to calm themselves. Others drew on their nervous energy to get their minds and bodies ready to fight. Still others attempted to visualize what the intitial encounter with the enemy might be like and what moves and countermoves they would make. Some simply emptied their mind of all extraneous thought, trusted in their training to carry them through the battle to come, and concentrated on simply putting one foot in front of the other.
Lirra became aware of a light not far ahead of them. At first, Lirra thought it was the glow from an everbright lantern, but the color was all wrong. Instead of a yellowish hue, this light was a shifting combination of colors, something like a kaleidoscope. She feared that they were too late, and Elidyr had activated the Overmantle, but then she remembered that the device’s crystals had pulsed with blue-white energy. What they were seeing ahead of them looked very different.
Ranja’s voice whispered once more in Lirra’s ear.
“Want me to run ahead and take a look?”
Lirra was tempted. Intelligence-gathering was more often than not the key to victory. But she didn’t fully understand the scope of Elidyr’s new powers, and she didn’t want to risk the shifter being detected by him. What good was a secret weapon if it was no longer secret? Better that Ranja approach Elidyr with the rest of them. That way, even if her uncle did possess some means of sensing the invisible shifter, there’d be a chance he’d be too distracted by the appearance of Lirra and the others to notice her.
Lirra shook her head once to let the shifter know she should stay close, and they continued cautiously moving down the tunnel toward the shifting lights. The tingling and nausea increased to the point of pain, and the feeling that she had to go forward and see what lay ahead became so strong it took all of her will not to break ranks and dash down the tunnel. It helped that she knew it would only be a matter of moments before she finally saw whatever it was that both repelled and attracted her so.
They reached a bend in the tunnel, and when they turned, they saw that the tunnel opened upon a large cave, roughly dome-shaped, with long stalactites hanging from the ceiling that reminded Lirra too much of teeth. In the center of the cave stood Elidyr, Sinnoch, and Rhedyn, the Overmantle lying on the floor next to them, its glowing crystals filling the cave with shifting, multicolored light. Lirra knew that the Overmantle was the source of the dueling impulses she felt, and she sensed
that something was different about the device now. Different, and very, very wrong.
“Welcome everyone!” Elidyr called out. “You got here just in time! Come in, come in! You don’t want to miss the show, do you? Not after you traveled all the way from Geirrid to get here.”
Lirra and Osten stepped into the cave, and the moment they crossed the threshold, Lirra felt better. The tingling at the base of her skull and the nausea were still there, but they’d lessened. Lirra assumed Ranja accompanied Osten and her into the cave, though since she couldn’t see the shifter, she didn’t know for certain. Vaddon and Ksana came next, followed by Longstrider and Shatterfist. Vaddon ordered the warforged to remain with him, and he commanded the rest of the Outguard soldiers to spread out around the cave and surround Elidyr and his companions, and they hastened to do so.
Elidyr watched with amusement as the soldiers took up their positions, but he made no move to interfere.
Vaddon stepped forward, sword in hand, but held down at his side.
“I’m going to give you one chance to surrender, Brother. Shut down the Overmantle and come with us-please.”
“Or what? You’ll kill me?” Elidyr reached up with his crawling gauntlet to scratch the head of the stormstalk draped around his shoulders. “It’s a little late for that, Vaddon.”
Lirra felt the presence of new aberrations approaching, but she couldn’t see any. There was something strange about the way the light given off by the Overmantle played upon the cave walls though. It made the stone seem hazy and indistinct, as if it were mist instead of solid rock, and she thought she could almost make out amorphous, shifting shapes within it. A strange mixture of scents filled the cave as well, the smells at once foul and sweet, stomach-turning and enticing.