An Empire Forged

by Michael Greenfield

  “Whatever. Come on.” She moved forward in a half crouch, taking no chances even with the sun behind them as it was. Carefully they followed the crude trail until they estimated they were a short distance above where they had seen the nearest J’dar.

  From here they had lost sight of the far end of the grassy field, but they were starting to hear the sounds of stone being worked and the shouting associated with manual labour. The sun was starting to dip below the far edge of the peaks that towered about them, so Edir made the decision to rest up here for a while and try to move closer once the sun had properly set, and they could use the cover of the dark.

  Tarron volunteered to take the first watch while the others got what sleep they could. They weren’t planning to stop for long but would take whatever respite they could.

  It seemed just a moment since she’d closed her eyes when Edir awoke to Reglan gently shaking her. “It’s time.”

  She looked up to the sky to see a brilliant vista of stars laid out before her. “One advantage of being up in the mountains, the air’s so clear.”

  Reglan followed her gaze, agreeing with a brief grunt, before he stood and crossed to his brothers. Both were already wrapping their blankets, readying themselves for the night’s work.

  She grabbed her own things and quickly made ready herself, glancing toward where the J’dar were working. The area around the base was now lit by torches and the work seemed to be continuing.

  Minutes later the four of them started to make their way through the mix of rocks and shrub that provided cover for the initial part of their approach.

  They reached the edge of the meadow in fairly short order. Again they stopped as they searched for any sign that they had been discovered. Still nothing appeared untoward, but none of them was willing to take that for granted.

  “We need to stick to the foliage around the edge as long as we can.” Reglan indicated the small trees and shrubs that circled round the edge of the area.

  The others nodded, easily seen in the starlight. Reglan started to lead them off when the sound of movement came to them. Close, the noise caused them all to drop into crouches, with the three men carefully drawing their swords. Edir drew a thin dirk. It might not be as large as the weapons the others carried, but in these tight quarters it would be just as deadly.

  Daring to hardly even breathe, they waited.

  A few seconds passed before they heard a faint whisper, answered by another. Edir could speak passing J’dar and she listened intently, but although the sound carried, it didn’t carry clearly enough for her to make out what was said.

  It all became academic as two J’dar warriors walked out from behind a cluster of growth just feet in front of them. The brothers didn’t hesitate. Reglan sprang forward, grabbing the nearest warrior and slapping his hand across his mouth, preventing him crying out. Tarron followed his brother’s moves and slid his sword into the man’s chest.

  Golt wasn’t as subtle, relying on his brute strength. He grabbed the other one by the shoulders, spinning him as he dragged him close. His arm snaked around the man’s neck, easily cutting off the breath of his foe and within seconds a sickly crunching sound followed by a rattle of escaped air signalled the end.

  Both men were laid carefully down, making as little sound as possible, whilst Edir scanned the immediate area to see of they had been heard. Nothing seemed different from just a few minutes before, apart from the bodies on the ground.

  “We need to move fast. They’ll be missed soon, and it won’t take long for them to realised they didn’t disappear in an accident up the mountain.

  If we’re lucky, they won’t organise a concerted search until first light, so we’ve got perhaps five hours.”

  Tarron and Golt pulled the bodies into the shadow of one of the nearby bushes, making sure they weren’t displayed in plain sight, before they set off again.

  Still moving cautiously, but trying to go as fast as possible, made for an almost comical stop-start progression. It took nearly forty minutes for them to travel the remaining distance to the point of cover closest to the base of the cliff.

  From their new vantage they could see various piles of rock, several J’dar moving between them. Those heading toward the piles carried more rocks in packs slung over their backs, whilst those heading away carried empty sacks.

  “Excavating? Anyone got any idea what they could be excavating in the middle of these mountains?” Golt whispered.

  “No, but I’m guessing that doorway could provide some answers.” Edir motioned toward where the men with empty sacks were heading toward.

  Cut into the rock itself was a small archway. The edge of which was carved, and even from the distance they were at they could see that there was some decoration to it.

  “We can’t get in through there.” Reglan indicated they should move back a bit. “If there’s some sort of construction under that heap of rock, then I refuse to believe they only built one entrance.”

  “Agreed,” Edir gazed upward at the cliff face itself, “so do you feel like another climb?”

  The other three also gazed upward, “Not really,” responded Golt.

  “That’s a shame.” She stood and quickly moved back into the undergrowth, leading them away from the work being carried out, but closer to one side of the cliff.

  “If there’s other ways in, then there should also be other ways up this thing. If we can find a route of some sort, we stand a chance of getting inside without being seen.”

  Reglan shrugged, “I can’t think of a better idea, unfortunately.” He gave it a moment’s thought, “Golt. You and Tarron pull back a bit and make your way parallel to the cliff, see if you can spot anything above us.

  Edir and myself will try along the base and see if we can discover something there.”

  Edir nodded, acknowledging the idea that would hopefully increase their chances. The two brothers slapped Reglan on the shoulder, then disappeared into the trees and bushes without a word.

  “They’ll only be gaining glances through the leaves.”

  “Its better than nothing. Four or two pairs of eyes won’t make that much difference close up.”

  “True.” She adjusted her pack slightly, just for comfort, and then started toward the base of the rock.

  Two hours later a whistle cut through the night air. Reglan and Edir froze, crouching low as they waited to see who had made the noise. Within seconds they heard someone coming through the foliage, and relaxed as they saw Golt and his brother emerge from the gloom.

  “About fifty yards ahead of you, there looks to be some sort of pathway cut into the rock. We’d have missed it, but the light just didn’t look right coming off the rock.

  I’m willing to wager that during the day its practically invisible.”

  “Then let’s see if we can find your invisible path before the sun rises. I really don’t want our friends back there to catch us out in the open, halfway up this damn mountain.” Reglan swiftly moved off, letting the other three trail along behind him.

  After a short distance he signalled for them to halt, and once they were together he motioned for them to start the search. Despite knowing almost exactly where the path should start, it still took ten minutes to actually find it.

  “Would you look at that.” Reglan stepped back to give the others a clear view. A narrow staircase had been hewn from the rockface itself, its colour and narrowness blending it with the natural rock about it.

  “Well?” Golt stared at the stairway, distaste plainly visible on his face, “I guess we have to go up then.”

  Edir smiled, “I’m afraid so.”

  As the sky lightened in the east, the group finally reached an unassuming doorway cut into the rock. The climb itself hadn’t really been that taxing, but the narrow cut of the stairs did encourage a certain degree of caution. Even taking a short rest had been awkward as they could only sit on the steps themselves.

  Reglan thankfully stepped through the doorway, closely fo
llowed by the others.

  “I’m not particularly worried about heights, but is there any chance we can try and find another route when we leave?”

  Soft laughter greeted his comment, more so because they all agreed with him.

  “We’re going to be in here for a while anyway, so we might as well keep an eye out for other routes to the surface. No matter what we find, or how quickly we find it, we’re stuck in here until sundown.”

  “You really know how to cheer us up, my Lady.”

  “Whatever. Now come on, let’s see if we can find out what’s going on.”

  “Just one question, how are we going to see anything down there?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.” Edir rummaged in her pack and withdrew a small spherical object, wrapped in oilskin. Carefully she removed the protection and then held it above her head.

  Gradually a soft, blue-white glow started to emanate from it.

  “You brought a Glowball? How did you know we’d need it?” Tarron blurted.

  “I like to be prepared. Anyway, we were heading for mountains, did you not think we might encounter a cave or two whilst we were here?”

  Tarron stayed silent, an acknowledgement of sorts that perhaps he should have thought of it, but wasn’t going to say so.

  They proceeded cautiously down the tunnel they had found. As they walked, Reglan studied the walls and raised a question.

  “Who do we think made this? It looks dwarven, but not quite, if you know what I mean?”

  Tarron had also been studying as the moved. “I agree, though I’ve not heard of dwarves living this far north.”

  Continuing down the passage, they eventually began to see faint light ahead. Abruptly the tunnel made a sharp turn to the left, bringing it to a wide ledge, overlooking an enormous cavern. Several hundred feet below them they could see the floor, which appeared to be littered with broken rock and dozens of small figures moving about industriously.

  Kneeling, the four of them took in the sight before them. The sides of the cavern had been worked at some point and several levels could be discerned. Walkways, similar to the stone ledge that they had appeared on, criss-crossed the walls but very few connecting stairways were visible.

  “There must be stairwells within the rock, back away from this cavern.” Golt studied the layout appreciatively, “I’m no expert, but I would say that all of this would have taken decades to create. There are structures down below that I’ve no idea as to their purpose.” He pointed toward several stone structures clustered about the centre of the floor.

  “There looks to be fissures over the far side.” Reglan also stared in wonder.

  Tarron had moved further along the ledge to a different entrance he had spotted. “There’s rooms back here. I can only see a short distance, but I can see three or four from here.”

  All three looked toward Edir, “Don’t look at me. I’ve no idea what it is.

  You notice that they appear to be excavating around some of the structures, but leaving others alone?”

  Again they all looked down, “We need to get down there, or at least closer to down there.” Reglan glanced at his youngest brother, “Tarron, how far back do you think that other passage goes?”

  “Let’s find out.”

  Many of the rooms they passed would perhaps have been described as living areas, but there was no way of knowing for sure. The assumption was made due to the layout of the ones they looked into, with a main room and a few smaller rooms leading off from it.

  Occasionally they saw one with a large single room and what could possibly be some form of stone shelving around its walls, but mostly they appeared to be the former.

  Finding a stairway leading down took some time. They found two leading up first before the downward spiral appeared.

  “We’re going to need to rest soon.”

  Reglan looked toward Golt, his face half hidden in due to the subtle light the Glowball emitted. “We’ve plenty of rooms to use.”

  Edir chuckled, “A short rest then. We’ll eat and get some sleep. I’ll take first watch with Reglan, you and Golt take second watch.”

  A quick bite of trail rations before they set off and Edir almost felt fully fit again. She knew it was an illusion, the exertions of the previous night without a proper rest would eventually catch up with all of them, but at the moment they had no real option other than to continue onward.

  A few more stairwells and they judged that they would now have a better view of the activity below. One of Tarron’s redeeming features was his unerring sense of direction. One simple request and he was leading them through the corridors back toward the main cavern.

  They hadn’t been back since starting their downward journey and had no accurate idea of how close to the lowest level they were, so they were surprised to find that they had travelled almost two thirds of the way back down.

  Now the view of the activity below was much clearer, and much more disturbing.

  “Forges. Who the hell builds forges in the middle of a mountain?” Golt was thunderstruck.

  “And it would appear that our desert friends are trying to dig them out.” Reglan was as confused as his brother.

  Edir had remained silent. Staring hard she was looking for something else. “There’s Mythraan down there.”

  The older brother regarded her suspiciously, “And how would you know that?”

  “Because they wouldn’t leave this to the J’dar to dig out and transport.”

  “Transport?”

  “I don’t know how they’re going to do it, but the Mythraan will want to transport these forges and furnaces across the desert and into Mythra.”

  “But that would require possibly hundreds of men just to move one of them, and there’s no way they could get them over the dunes.”

  “Then they must be planning to use magic, but where are they getting the life energy from. This would require immense sacrifices and I don’t think the J’dar would volunteer to do that, no matter how threatened they feel.” She shook her head, “All I know for sure is that we need to get this news back to the others as soon as possible.”

  Patrols

  Farsighter and the two younger Rangers moved at a pace that would have left many others half his age in a state of complete physical breakdown. Usually the trip from Bor’a to Riversmeet took a week, but the three men jogged into view after only four days.

  Part of that had been the use of horses for the first two days, before they had encountered a two-man Ranger patrol heading south who they redirected toward Ramon’s camp. They had left their horses with the patrol, having been told that the Shaler were active in the area and it was safer to travel by foot, and continued on.

  Upon reaching the wooden walls of Riversmeet, Farsighter had sent the others to get refreshed and fed, whilst he headed for Balton’s office.

  “Wolf, good to see you still alive!”

  “It’s good to still be alive,” both men clasped each others’ arms and laughed. “What’s new?”

  “Not much on what we’ve already passed on.”

  “That may be where the problems start, none of your reports were being passed on to the Garrison.”

  Balton’s eyes widened at that, “What?” he motioned for Farsighter to sit.

  Taking the offered seat, Farsighter continued, “Treachery in the Palace. Bor’a was being used by Lord Holdur’s old advisor. It would appear that he’s in league with our enemy, and I’m guessing not just as some of pawn.

  He appears to have quite a bit of power behind him.”

  “So, what are our orders?”

  “For a start, all reports are to be sent to Commander Ramon directly. The garrison itself have been camped a couple of days outside Bor’a up to now, but he should be starting to march toward Holdur today or tomorrow.”

  “That’s well and good, but you could easily have sent that message with one of the lads.”

  “True,” He smiled at the Commander of Riversmeet, “but C
ollett would really like the two if us to start causing the Shaler and J’dar, shall we say, issues.”

  “Issues?”

  “Yes, painful ones.” Both men were smiling now.

  Balton sent a message for two of his more senior Rangers to join them. Whilst they waited for them to appear, he also dug out several different maps from a trunk set against the back wall. He spread the first one out on the table and started to bring Farsighter up to speed with a more accurate rundown of the current positioning of the enemy.

  “We have J’dar forces spread widely between the border with M’ur and the lands three days northwest of here. The Shaler hold from there across to Needle lake, how far beyond that we’ve not explored yet.”

  “Have they troubled you here yet?”

  “No, probably relying on the fact that anything we found out wouldn’t get to our troops anyway.”

  “True.” Staring hard at the map, Farsighter rummaged for a more detailed one of the land to the northwest.

  “So, we have J’dar along here?” He indicated a line along the map he’d found, “Are they camped or moving?”

  Balton looked at where he had indicated, “Along the front of their incursion they keep moving every few days. Further back they have more stable setup.”

  “And that’s where most of their supplies are coming through?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good, I like that.” Balton looked up at his friend, the expression he saw was decidedly unfriendly.

  “That’s cruel Magron. I think I like it as well. Bloody difficult to keep an army camped in a foreign land when they’re hungry.”

  “It’s going to help that we have good information that some of them don’t even want to be there.”

  As both men started grinning there was a polite knock at the door to the office, and the two officers Balton had requested entered.

  “Gentlemen,” he acknowledged them both, nodding towards empty seats around the table, “I’m certain you either know, or know of, my colleague here.” He indicated Farsighter.