The archers moved out at dawn, the traps were set, the escape route ready, and the tension was high. Ambre was out in front with the archers, and while Grenwyn did not like it, he was glad she had not insisted on coming with Laith, Mynix and himself into the enemy compound. Laith did not look well, and he paced up and down the hall like a caged animal, Grenwyn knew it was not just the rocks over his head bothering him. He hadn’t seen the look in Feryl’s eyes that night, but just the story of it retold by Laith caused him to shiver.
Grenwyn looked to Mynix then, she had grown so much in the past few months. Where before she had seemed ungainly, now she seemed sleek, her insecurity had turned into a cool confidence, and her features, while still somewhat plain, glowed with a fierce radiance sure to catch many a man's eye.
Rock Head told himself time and again that he was glad to see the travelers go, that now he wouldn’t be bothered by their constant jabbering. Now he would not have to take time away from his precious studies to tutor that awkward girl. Then he pictured the girl, and the way she gazed at him in wonder whenever he cast the simplest spell. He told himself how dangerous it was to have an apprentice, how they betray you when their skill outmatches your own. He knew this girl would have great power one day, the way she caught on to spells was remarkable. Dangerous, he kept telling himself. "I never listen to myself,” Rock Head thought as he ran up the tunnel to join his student.
When Rock Head caught up with her, he could scarcely catch his breath, “I um… I uh… thought you might need my help, you know, it would, uh, be a shame to waste all the time I spent teaching you…and um…my time is quite valuable you know…” Mynix smiled, and wrapped him in a big hug, and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. Rock Head turned a deep shade of red and said “Well now, I don’t think that is very appropriate, not very appropriate at all.” He frowned, but his eyes were smiling.
They were able to take the tunnels nearly all the way there, they would have to hope for stealth to cover them for the last 500 yards, and as we all know, dwarves are not the stealthiest of creatures above ground. Nonetheless, they managed to make it into position.
The camp below was in chaos. People ran about the streets drinking, fighting, and committing other sorts of debauchery. The dwarves smiled at each other grimly as if to say, this was going to be easier than they thought. They all set up their aim, and on Grenwyn’s mark, they let the first volley fly. Arrow arrow rained down upon the camp, and while they were in the air, Mynix and Rock Head chanted an incantation together and the missile caught flame. Soon the whole camp was aflame and the enemy began to rouse themselves from their stupor.
The dwarves stood at the top of a steep hill, and the enemy would be at a great disadvantage and could be easily pecked off my archers as they made their way up the slope. The humans were about to start their perilous descent, when the black robes emerged from the main tent. They called a hault, and a small army of varying sorts of undead creatures emerged from a larger tent hidden off to the side. These creatures went up the hill first, acting as a shield for their more vivacious companions at arms.
The arrows rained down in volley after volley, but they did little to stop the tide of undead creatures. Rock Head cast a firewall halfway up the slope, but the zombies marched right through, some of them succumbed to the flames, and many were damaged, but the press continued. Mynix remembered a spell that Taylia had taught her to turn a surface slippery like oil. She cast it and in a large section, the enemies were unable to advance without falling back down. More than a few creatures on the surface when she first cast the spell fell and were so badly broken they could not rise back up. Forgetting himself, Rock Head looked at her beaming with pride, and she blushed and rushed to cast another fire spell on a volley of arrows.
Undead still moved towards the slope, but they had stopped emerging from the tent now. Laith shuddered to think what travesties Dastrius must have committed to obtain such a large number. He looked to Grenwyn who nodded to him, their signal to make their move. Mynix moved to join them as well. They all looked each other in the eyes, steadied themselves, and set out.
They had scoped out a side trail that moved down the west side of the mountain slope. It was almost around the side of the slope, and concealed them quite well from view for most of the way. There was however, the matter of a few hundred yards of open land crawling with undead and live enemy combatants. Then there was the matter of finding their way through the veritable city of tents, locating Feryl, and keeping her from turning the entire placed to rubble, although Grenwyn thought that at least might be a bit fun.
On cue, as they were halfway down the slope, the dwarves up top began their retreat. It was a tactical retreat however, and in reality served as both a diversion to allow the small team to enter the camp without being noticed, and to lure the enemy into the series of devious traps that had been laid out in the tunnels. The enemies who still had brains must not have been using them, as they willingly followed the dwarves into their hole, and everyone knows a dwarf never looses a battle in their own home.
Mynix tensed, and she walked up to Laith, trying not be be obvious, she said quietly to him, while keeping her eyes forward, “Laith, I think we are being followed.” Laith nodded, and realizing she was not looking, said quietly,”I felt it too, but we may as well move as close to camp as we can before we blow out cover.” Mynix nodded and they continued on.
The dwarves reached the top of the first rise and Rock Head held back to set off the first in a long series of traps. When the enemy came into view, he tossed a bottle of liquid down amongst them. The bottle exploded when it hit the hard rock, and a thick fog filled the chamber. The fog also held two purposes, the first was to blind the enemy to the mass of rocks that was just then being set loose to tumble down on them, and it held a essence of confusion. While the confusion did not effect the undead, it did effect the living enemies with them.
Rockhead smiled seeing the dwarves had judged the amount of rocks to be just right. They were smaller boulders, able to travel downhill easily at a fast pace. While there were enough boulders to make passing the room difficult, it did not block the way, thus keeping the enemy moving forward into their traps, rather than out to find Grenwyn and company.
They heard a skid on rocks behind them, and Grenwyn, Mynix, and Laith all drew their weapons and turned at once. If they could dispatch the creature quickly enough they might not be discovered. Grenwyn leapt at it first, and it was all he could do not to start yelling when he saw it was Ambre who had followed them. “What foolishness are ye about girl!” he nearly bellowed,” I just find out ye’re alive, and now ye be throwin yer life in danger!” Ambre glared at him “and what about you, ye’ve been gone me whole life, and now that ye’ve found me you expect me to be sitting around like a nursery maid while yer out havin all the fun!” Laith and Mynix shared a look and could scarcely contain their laughter. “Bah, ye’ve gone and turned out like yer old man instead of yer mother, now there was a real lady who knew how to behave herself.” Grenwyn started. “And did that save her?” Ambre asked defiantly.
Grenwyn glared at her and Laith thought they might actually start yelling so he decided to diffuse the situation. “It is what it is, and there is nothing we can do about it now. The enemy has already entered the tunnels, she can’t follow behind or she will be at risk of fighting them or falling to a trap. Like it or not, with us is safer than back there.” Laith finished and the two dwarves glared at each other but continued on. Laith and Mynix shared a knowing smile, and clasped hands as they made their way closer to danger.
Feryl was just about to storm the main tent like a berserker when flames erupted all around her. She didn’t know where they came from, but she was thankful for the diversion. She watched as the foot soldiers moved forward, followed by the black cloaks, and then the undead. Their reek nearly made her gag, but she held it in so that no one would discover her hiding in the shadows.
She also knew not all of the black cloaks were accounted for, there were 24 that she had seen and only 18 of them had surged forward to join the fray. That left 6 for her to deal with, and their clerical magic would make that a challenge. She closed here eyes, took a deep breath, and was about to move in, when she jumped back as 4 more of the Shadow cloaks burst from the tent in response to a loud rumble within the mountain. “Two,” Feryl thought, “I can handle that.” And she crept into the tent with the silent skill of an assassin.
Once she was inside the tent, she could see that the front part of the tent was a large open area, likely used for large meetings, behind that was a smaller sectioned off area with a meeting table and chairs, and beyond that was a closed curtain, likely leading to Dastrius’ private chambers. Feryl began to feel a sense of déjà vu as she looked around, that quickly turned to yet another simmering anger as she recognized that many of the items had once decorated her own home. The table was one that her Mother had gave her, and used to sit in the dining room, the book shelves that lined her study, now held books of dark magic.
Not only had he destroyed everything she had once known and loved, he had taken the planning and forethought to rob her blind first! It was almost enough to send her running, heedless into the rear tent, and a few months ago she might have done just that. When Laith had begun working with her, while her skill was just short of awe inspiring, it was all attack and no defense. Her fighting was an expression of her anger, and was all striking out an opponent, not protecting oneself from an opponents strike.
Laith had taught her how to be a disciplined fighter, and this addition made her a very deadly opponent. With her newfound patience, she scanned the large room, she was about to move forward when she saw the flash of eyes on the left hand side of the room. The person did not appear to have seen her, but a noisy fight might bring help from the next room, or provide warning for Dastrius to flee. Feryl gritted her teeth and moved slowly and quietly across the room.
As she got closer, it appeared her opponent was reading a book. It seemed to her that she moved across the floor forever, each moment agonizing, and terrifying that she might make noise and destroy her plan. She made it to the table unnoticed, she planned to run a blade across the mans throat and kill him before he could make any sound.
Somehow, amidst her blinding rage, she looked at the man she was about to kill, and felt the wrongness of it. She knew she could not kill a man in cold blood, who she had not seen committing any violent acts (though in all likelihood he had) who was sitting there reading a book. She saw on the floor next to her a vase she remembered to be very heavy, and she picked it up and smashed the man in the temple, and he crumpled over his book, for all appearances dozing. While the man might not awake from the attack, he had a better chance than if he were to have a sword through his throat. Feryl could not risk leaving an enemy behind her this time.
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