“We have seen enough, the trial will not progress, the evidence of truth has been presented. All of those in favor for a vote of innocence?” The world fell away from Cassandra, as only Elder Marcus raised his hand, looking around himself in bewilderment at the rest of the council.
“All of those in favor for a vote of guilt?” Every other member of the twelve raised their hands, some even happy to do so. People she had counted on, that had made promises to support her, rose their hands meekly looking to the floor. Unable to meet her gaze as they cowardly went along with the will of the people.
“So be it. On this day, the Lady Cassandra Alderman will be hanged to the death for the crime of unlawful magical instruction and the proof of treason against the kingdom. Her handmaiden Jayne Aldermankin has also been seen guilty and will be hanged to the death.” Jayne’s panic racked her body in convulsions as Arch Councilor Zacharia pronounced the death sentence. “Furthermore, given the evidence of both women being at the center of this conspiracy, all members of the Alderman House will be taken into custody and summarily executed before dawn.”
Cassandra felt her body grow numb, she felt far away from her being, distant from these dark events. It was as if she were floating above the stage, wondering at the spectacle below where nothing seemed real. A soldier fiercely tore Jayne away from her, pulling the mewling girl toward a noose as Fafnir shoved Elise hard to the ground at her feet.
“And what of the treacherous Elise Ivarone of Riverbell, Arch Councilor?” he asked with murderous intent gleaming in his eyes.
Zacharia studied the girl for a moment, thinking through the best course to take. “Take her back to the dungeons where we will try her in private on the next eve.”
Cassandra reached down to help Elise to her feet, slipping a smooth stone into her palm and whispering into her ear “Protect this for me until Corbin’s return. Have no fear child, all is not lost.”
Fafnir signaled a soldier to separate the women and sidled in, eager to lead her to the awaiting noose. He tightened it with a deep look of satisfaction. She had indeed underestimated him for the last time.
“Nothing to say again, Lady Cassandra? This is turning into quite the habit.” Fafnir slithered in her ear while pulling the loose rope over her head.
Cassandra spit in his face, it was the first time in almost two hundred years she acted un-ladylike. Fafnir carefully wiped the spittle from his cheek then backhanded her sharply. She began to laugh uncontrollably at him.
“What is so funny?” he snarled, pulling the noose snug around the soft skin of her wrinkled neck.
“I stopped them.” She managed between the bubbling laughter.
“Stopped who, what are you prattling on about woman? Have you taken leave of your senses so quickly, do not take the pleasure out of this now.” He growled lowly.
“Back on the surface of Acadia… over two centuries ago… I’m the one who stopped the council from killing you.” Fafnir pulled back from the woman, searching her eyes for some hint of madness, though his breath held sensing the truth in her words.
“What…?” he stammered.
“You half-blood filth, they were right all along. You can just never trust a Jotnar after all.” She smiled, vindictively revealing the bastard’s lineage.
The magistrate stumbled backward away from her, almost tripping on his own robes. She followed him with unwavering eyes consumed with hatred then turned bravely facing the crowd, holding her head high. A loud click sounded as the executioner pulled the heavy wooden lever, opening trap doors beneath the women.
Jayne struggled hard against the rope, as it dug deeply into her gurgling neck. Lady Cassandra however, was eerily calm, thinking only on how the rope did indeed scratch just as badly as it had on her wrists. In the center of the mob, she could make out Alan’s spirit standing with arms outstretched, waiting for her to join him in the light. Deep into the bright, mystical light of the after world, and far away from the bloodthirsty cheers of the crowd below.
Logan’s boot scuffed against a pebble, skittering across the floor and waking Bipp from his deep slumber. He had been dreaming of a time when Ul’kor was filled with other gnomes, alive and thriving as the cultural center of Vanidriell. Understanding it was not real he felt a pang of sadness thinking that it had all been lost to the ages. His friend scuffed a boot across the tiles again. He must be pacing in the back of the room, no doubt trying to stay awake.
“That’s funny,” he thought, “how is Logan making all that noise when he is sitting slumped against the wall across from me?” His heart, along with the tufts of white hair covering his ears grew stiff. Again, the sound scraped against stone, coming fully out of his daze he realized in horror it was coming from right behind where he lay. Bipp was gripped by terror and did not dare reveal he was aware something was in the room with them. Slowly he reached for the hammer resting next to his boots, when he felt hot sticky breathing on his neck. Unable to contain himself, Bipp howled, waking up the entire camp, as cold claws clamped around his ankle and pulled his body across the floor toward the shadowy corner.
Logan cursed himself for nodding off, jumping to grab ahold of his friend’s wrist. Whatever had him was fiercely stronger than a cobold and was wrenching the screaming gnome into an opening at the base of a ruined wall. Corbin charged into the shadow swinging his polearm past Bipp’s feet. The blade chopped into something hard, taking a chunk out but not severing the grasping claws. Grubble grabbed the pleading little gnome’s other wrist and threw his weight backward, pulling him further away from the shadows, giving Logan just enough leverage to free his hand and blindly let out an electric blast from his metal fist.
The area lit up with a flash, revealing to the companions for the briefest of moments the horrible creature that had their friend. It was a flicker of long gangly arms, covered with rotting gray flesh, bloody drooping eyes filled with an unquenchable hunger and sharp bonelike spikes running along a horribly disfigured spine. The creature gurgled as the electricity knocked it painfully back. Dropping to all fours the nightmare scurried backward into the hole it had slipped out from.
Flipping onto his back, Bipp scrambled away from the opening thrashing his arms out to hit the terrible thing that was no longer there.
“What in the bloody hell was that?! I thought you said there was nothing in here?” Logan asked his brother, terrified by the ghastly creature.
“There wasn’t when I scanned the area.” Corbin replied unsure of himself.
“Aye, that there was a bonestalker, mindless remnant of some unlucky bastard. No one’s home in there.” Grubble said as he rapped on his temple for reference. “The cursed things will follow their prey for days waiting until the time is right to come in and snatch ye when ye be safe in bed.” He spat on the floor in revulsion.
“Take me for what?” Bipp’s face was drained of all color and he looked like he was working hard to not be sick.
“Suck yer brains out, naturally.” The warrior casually replied gathering up his boots to get dressed.
“And… we’re done resting.” Logan said. Nobody needed to be told twice, they were all more than eager to put some distance between themselves and the bathhouse. With weapons drawn, the companions fell into a defensive formation with Corbin taking the lead. Logan and Bipp each watched the buildings to their sides, and Grubble walked backward to defend their rear. After about an hour of moving without being pursued, they relaxed a little.
“We’re almost all the way across the city.” Corbin pointed out. “If we go any further we’ll be out of the ruins entirely.”
“That can’t be right, we haven’t found what we came here for yet.” Logan complained.
“Okay, where do we go next then, what’s your plan?” Corbin asked expectantly.
“I don’t know, I kinda thought it would just sorta come to me once we got here…” he admitted, hearing how ridiculous it sounded when spoken aloud and shaking his head in embarra
ssment.
Baetylus appeared in front of Corbin, blocking his view of Logan. Pointing his staff to a nearby domed building, he said, “This is where you will find what you seek.”
Corbin sensed many cobolds living in the structure. “All-Father, how can we possibly hope to remain undetected while we search this place?” he used his mind to speak, not wanting his friends to hear the fear edged in his words.
“You are the righteous chosen of Baetylus, fear not the petty weak minded humanoids, they will be of little challenge for you, my champion.” Corbin nodded his head, feeling more confident to have his god’s trust.
“We head there, to that dome building, that is where I sense the answers Fimbas sent you to seek are most likely to be waiting.” Corbin said aloud to his companions.
Grubble shook his head and pointed his axe to the largest building instead, eyeing it at the end of his blade with one eye closed. It towered over anything around, built in tiers of sharp angled stone carved into rectangular buildings, connected as one large towering gothic structure. Something was protruding from the roof, but at this low angle, it could not be seen clearly.
“I don’t know why but, the All-Father is pointing us in that direction.” Corbin informed, trying to sway Grubble’s train of thought.
“Don’t give a flippin’ flyin’ crap storm what yer voices be sayin’… damned humans. Makes the most sense to check out the King’s Hall first.” Corbin could see there was no detering the gnome from his course.
“I agree with Grubble, we should check it out. I mean just look at the place, it’s practically begging for us to come inside and take a peek.” Logan sounded excited at the prospect.
“Clearly there is no stopping your curiosity. Let’s head there first, but afterwards to the other, agreed?” Logan and Bipp nodded, accepting his compromise.
The castle’s gates were crushed inward, shards of stones littering the ground, one of the doors still miraculously hanging on a lone hinge. Logan could only guess what could have been strong enough to do that much damage and hoped he never had to find out. All around the ground were strewn rusted remains of armor and dried bones of gnomes and humans.
“Didn’t I tell ye Bipp, there’s yer proof, it was the human traitors that brought this curse down on Ul’kor.” Grubble slapped the engineer’s chest, pointing at the mess.
The interior of the castle was overgrown with weeds as well, but there was something majestic still existing in the place, as if all the damage in Acadia could not wipe away the pride taken crafting the stoic building.
They traveled through the ruins for some time, with Bipp showing the way based on ancient writings that marked directions. The gnomes of old were very pragmatic in their construction.
“There’s the king’s court up ahead!” Bipp exclaimed scurrying onward in excitement. Grubble lunged forward, yanking the engineer back by his collar.
“Watch yer step ye idjit.” He warned, slapping the back of Bipp’s head and pointing to the walls, which were lined with fist-sized portholes.
“Looks like a defense system, probably setup to stop invaders.” Corbin guessed, wiping away the sweat from his brow.
“Course it is, standard gnome build out, just have to step in the right order.” Grubble explained, referring to the floor tiles, which were all the same color.
“Hard to see what the patterns are, how are we going to get across?” Logan asked, anxious to get inside, they were so close he could feel it in his bones.
“I could always throw you across to test it out…” Grubble teased. “Nah… first thing is don’t be steppin’ where them dead rats are.” Grubble said, referring to the cobold corpses that lay about the wide hall, marking wrong paths. “Secondly, these dogs must have figured out the right path, see where some of them are much less dusty, must be used more often.”
Corbin looked closely at the tiles, most of which were virtually covered in a thick layer of dirt and dust, while some were certainly used more often. The gnome’s reasoning was sound. Using this logic Logan recklessly skipped from one to the next, safely making his way across the trapped hall. Once on the other side he turned to give his companions the thumbs up signaling for them to follow.
They were about halfway across to meet him, when footsteps announced an arrival, freezing them all in place like statues. Logan slipped into a dark corner beside a fallen section of the hall wall just in time to conceal himself from a cobold who drunkenly staggered into view from the side corridor. The filthy humanoid stopped to urinate on the ten-foot oak doors, completely oblivious to the trio standing still in various locked poses down the hall behind it. Burping, the monster finished with a wiggle, then turned around to stretch. He looked at the group curiously, cocking his head trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Then the little dimwitted humanoid sobered up, straightening out its back like a board, wide eyed at the intruders. Logan jumped out of the corner to stop the monster, but Corbin’s voulge flying through the air, hurled like a spear, beat him to the punch, cleanly pinning the vile creatures head to the massive door.
Grubble looked back to the man with a leering smile “That was a pretty decent bit of slice ‘n dice.” He nodded appreciatively, bringing a smile to Corbin. Adding, “For a human…” pulling the weapon from the door and tossing it to him.
Logan was trying in vain to pry the sealed doors free, moving them not even a fraction of an inch. “How do we get these blasted things open?” he gasped, while exerting all of his force in the attempt. Grubble grunted, shoving him to the side, moving in to add his strength but the door would still not budge.
“Not likely to get them open that way.” Bipp reasoned, showing them he found the mechanism that activated the doors. “These ruins here would be the way in, just have to figure them out.”
“How long should that take?” Logan asked, disappointed at being slowed down yet again.
“Hmmm…, could be some time lads. This is some ancient language for sure, going to have to figure out the right order.” He scratched the tip of his nose thoughtfully, playing out different combinations in his head.
Logan came up behind him and laughed, seeing the ruins etched in the wall. Each set of markings was carved into a cylindrical stone that rotated up and down forming the proper combination across. “This would have been operated by the king’s guard, a failsafe against intruders.” The little gnome mumbled, tapping his nose. Moving in front of Bipp, Logan rolled the pieces into different positions and stepped back.
“Could be dangerous to put in a random sequence, in fact it’s guaranteed to be.” Bipp warned, stopping him from throwing the switch.
“It’s not random, I saw this somewhere… think it was an old book I read in Elder Morgana’s library?” he asked Corbin, vaguely trying to get a sense of where he had seen the sequence.
Looking at the symbols Corbin felt a heavy sense of deja vu. “Wasn’t in a book she had, this was carved right into the wood above the bookcases in her bedroom!” He could not believe how remarkable the coincidence was.
“Some old bat had our ancient kingdom’s ruins carved into her bookshelves?” Grubble asked, skeptically doubting that very much.
“It could make sense in a library.” Bipp remarked thoughtfully. “The four of these together means to say ‘Knowledge is truth, Power is blind’.”
Then he stepped forward to push in the large stone switch, activating the mechanism. Soundlessly the doors opened inward and Bipp whistled at the majestic throne room beyond, which ran the remaining length of the building. The king’s court was so large it could fit half an army and still have a little wiggle room. The place was perfectly preserved, the stains of time only leaving stale smelling air filled with dust and cobwebs. A great battle had been fought in this room as the corpses of humans, gnomes, and cobolds could attest to.
“Well would you look at that?” Bipp wondered, pointing up at where the stained glass ceiling was holding the largest stalactite an
y of them had ever seen. It must have crashed down from the roof of the cavern somehow.
“I can’t believe the glass did not shatter entirely from the weight of this thing.” Corbin replied in awe.
“Gnome craftsmanship is a thing of beauty, lad.” Grubble admired the ceiling.
The masterfully set stained glass around the hulking rock, though splintered, was still intact revealing the green glowing moss far over ahead, which made the colorful images iridescent and bent against the stained glass to light the room up. Across the room, an empty, ornately carved throne of gold, with red satin lining, sat at the top of a short flight of stairs with a smaller twin beside it.
“Look up there at the carvings.” Logan brought their attention to the chiseled cameos surrounding the perimeter of the ceiling.
Grubble muttered that he could care less about some artwork. What he really wanted to see was the throne, up close and personal. The warrior made it halfway across the room before smacking hard into an invisible wall, his big nose flopping sideways and his salt-n-pepper beard spreading across the unseen barrier. The companions were startled by the ringing sound of it echoing sharply across the room.
“What in the blazes?” he snapped, there was nothing in front of him but air. Bipp ran up to check it out, slapping his palm on the invisible thing, each hit ringing dully in the chamber.
“Some sort of magical barrier, never heard of nothing like this before…” Bipp explained, looking up from where the wall would be to see if there was anything overhead.
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