“Naturally.
Kels spoke up, “Edir tells me that you were attempting to reach Myriana via Galorn. How is it you now appear before me without Her Majesty?”
“Perhaps this would be easier to explain if we had a map. Do you have one available covering the Southern Reaches from here to Mythra?” Dorrin looked about to see if there was a page available to fetch said map.
“I have one here Dorrin.” Edir produced a roll of parchment from behind the throne. “Perhaps we should move to one of the tables?” She pointed toward one of several tables spread throughout the hall, but her eyes remained on the king.
“I’m not an invalid Edir!”
Dorrin and Farsighter both looked at the king questioningly. “I fell from my horse, alright! Damn thing got skittish at something and threw me.
I’m fine, nothing broken. Just a little bruised.”
He stiffly rose from the throne and walked over to the nearest table where Edir spread the map out, using a couple of wayward mugs to hold the ends down.
“As Your Majesty is aware, Myriana was taken by Shalers several days northwest of Holdur.” He pointed roughly the spot on the map where they had been attacked. “What I don’t know if your aware of is the fact that the Shalers were led by a Mythraan.”
Kels’ head snapped up, “You’re sure?”
“I wish I wasn’t, but yes. Mythra once again looks south but I’ve yet to figure out exactly what they’re after.”
“You did well to escape at all,” the king nodded appreciatively and place a hand on Dorrin’s shoulder, “you also had the whit to escape when the moment called for it and spread the word. That must have been a hard choice.”
“My thanks Your Majesty, it was.”
“I think we can dispense with all of these ‘Your Majesty’s’, Edir and Kels most definitely know me well enough to call me by name and I think it would speed things if you would do the same.
Just call me Maarg, it’s a lot easier.”
“Maarg.” Dorrin smiled in acknowledgement. “It was during my escape and attempt to reach Holdur that I ran into Magron, or more properly his protégé.
He was escorting Cal to Bor’a to join the Rangers. We proceeded to Holdur where we intended to get a message to His Majesty, but we were too late.
At the time we were unaware that the kidnapping was part of a larger scheme involving a Shaler invasion of Boraan. An invasion that had been planned with the help of Nagril, Duke Holdur’s chief advisor.
The King was already en route and the Shaler were ready for him. He was killed trying to reach the keep. Commander of the Royal Guard, Collett managed to survive and between us we decided to travel north fast in an attempt to cut off the Queen’s party before they reached Miri and the J’dar Desert.
We met a party of dwarves whilst travelling north and discovered that the Shaler were not just pushing onto Boraan, but also our northern mountains. That would be your southern ranges.”
Maargsson looked discomforted by this news but signalled for Dorrin to continue.
“With the dwarf Vorston we then decided to try for a ship to Galorn. If the Shalers held the mountains and the western areas of M’ur, then catching up with Her Majesty had become a bit problematic.
We took ship from Nibar’a to Mid’gra where we hoped to enlist the aide of King Athmyran in moving north through the mountains and to intercept the caravan we were sure Myriana would be on.”
“Caravan?” It was Edir who interrupted.
Farsighter replied, “We learnt that the J’dar are aiding the Shalers and Mythraan. It seemed logical that they would move her by J’dar caravan.”
“True,” Dorrin continued, “but upon reaching Mid’gra we ran into further problems. It would appear that Galorn is compromised as well. I couldn’t say who exactly, but we had to leave in a hurry and leave some of our party behind.
That took us to Mor Drek and our meeting with Edir. The rest you already know.”
“You seem to have been plagued with bad luck throughout it all friend Dorrin.” Maargsson gestured across the map. “How is it we can aid you?”
“Maarg, firstly we need to address the pattern that appears to have formed during our escapades. In both Boraan and Galorn we see treachery at what we must assume to be the highest levels in both.
I don’t know how, but we need to assure ourselves that the same doesn’t occur here.”
Maargsson looked to Edir who answered. “We may have finally found some luck there. We caught one of our southern lord’s red-handed taking bribes from a J’dar trader.
We managed to track the trader back to a Shaler village not far from The Deeps where unfortunately we were unable to apprehend him.
His Helmer accomplice wasn’t quite so lucky. It took a while, but we were able to break him and stop a plan that sounds strikingly similar to the ones you have spoken of in Boraan and Galorn.
We can’t be completely sure, but it would look to all intents and purposes that we’ve managed to cut off that avenue of attack.”
Dorrin visibly seemed to relax, “That’s probably the only good news I’ve received in nearly three months.”
“So back to question of what you hope for us to do.”
“Boraan’s army is regrouping and holding south of Holdur. On its own they should be able to force the Shaler back toward the north, though we might not be able to retake all that’s been lost.
The worry is that would leave the door open for the J’dar who occupy M’ur and the east of Boraan. We face a two-front struggle at a time when our leadership is fractured at best.
What we would hope of your people would be assistance from the north. With the dwarves moving south to take ship to their brethren further east it makes sense to bolster your southern holdings anyway, and as Edir pointed out at Mor Drek, it’s much better to fight these kinds of battles on someone else’s land rather than your own.”
“True. And yes, it makes a lot of sense for us to deploy south, but we have intelligence that J’dar troops have been seen in the mountains to the north of Kal’s Deep.”
Farsighter responded, “We’d heard something along those lines. Does anyone know what they’re doing or after?”
“No,” Kels pointed to a point on the map just north of the expanse of forest called Kal’s Deep, “the groups we’ve seen appear to be searching for something, though we’ve no idea what.
Gods we don’t even know if there’s anything up there worth finding. There’s a few trails through the passes that lead between Leefs’elm and the desert, but aside from that we’re unaware of anything that would be of importance to anyone, let alone an invading army.”
“You think they intend to invade?” Dorrin was surprised at this.
“Probably not,” Maargsson waved at the depiction of the mountains on the map, “not exactly prime territory for launching an offensive through.”
“True.”
“We’ve left scouts up there to keep an eye on what’s going on and to report if something turns up but until they send us something, we don’t have much to go on.
One thing we’ve avoided so far, what do you intend if Myriana isn’t safely returned?”
Dorrin looked troubled as he considered his reply. “To be honest that’s something I’ve tried to avoid thinking about.
If we can’t return Myriana to the throne, then we will have to look at replacing her.” Farsighter tensed, all four of the others noticing. “Believe me, I don’t want to, but what choice would we have.
We can’t fight a war without leadership. Yes, the army would have their generals, but the population need to see someone at the head of our army. A king or queen which they can believe in and support.”
Edir reached for Farsighter’s arm, “Dorrin is right. We can begin moving troops south to support your re-taking of your kingdom, but we will need someone in place to assume command on behalf of your people.
We need information. How we’re going to get it I couldn’t begin
to guess, but we need to know what’s going on elsewhere.”
Farsighter found his thoughts drifting as he listened to the others. He wasn’t happy with the turn the conversation had taken, but he couldn’t fault the logic.
“How long would it take a Fastship to make the run across the Middle Sea with a quick stop at Joorat?”
Kels looked thoughtful. “Perhaps just under a month if they really pushed it. It wouldn’t be a pleasant trip.”
“I’m not worried about it being pleasant. If we pick up a Ranger patrol at Joorat and run to the coast just on the southern edge of Wraith’s Wall.” He studied the map for a moment, “Yes, we could reach Churek in a little under six weeks.
Like you said, it wouldn’t be a pleasant trip, but if we took some pigeons with us, we could get more definite information back to in roughly two months.
How long arrange your deployment south?”
“Getting the orders out, co-ordinating the various marches to some place to rendezvous and march south en masse. Supplies would need to be transported via cart.
It won’t be quick. It would probably take a month to get to the mountains and then we’d need to have a co-ordinated plan in place before any action took place.”
“Then if I get to Joorat and dispatch a Ranger patrol north with pigeons, Dorrin would be able to co-ordinate from Joorat between your force and the Boraan army.
You could at least start to roll the Shaler force back whilst I get to Churek and find out what’s happened.”
They all studied the map for a few minutes before Maargsson spoke.
“It’s a plan. Probably the best one we’ve got at the moment and it would allow a certain amount of flexibility.
I’m not saying I like it, but I don’t see much alternative.”
“Agreed,” Dorrin looked at Farsighter, “you realise of course that you will probably find yourself having to penetrate into Mythra to get solid information.”
Farsighter’s eyes drifted to the north-west corner of the map. “Yes, I realise that.”
Dwarfhome
The high mountain pasture that spread before them would have appeared extremely picturesque if it wasn’t for the fact that Collett and Luda were still getting used to the height.
Instead, the main thought running through Collett’s mind was relief. At the far end of the pasture they could see their destination at last.
“Finally,” Luda exploded, “I thought I was going to die getting here.”
“Well you were the ones that wanted to hurry instead of taking time to acclimatise to the height.” Garron laughed at the big man, “Just tell yourself that it will feel so much better on the way down.”
The small group all laughed at that before Garron spread his arms wide, “Gentleman, I give you Dwarfhome. Not an original name I’ll grant, but it serves a purpose.”
Their destination would have been a small town down on the plains, but here in the mountains it appeared much larger. Most of the buildings were wooden, and the town itself was surrounded by a wooden wall, roughly ten feet high.
Dwarfhome had been built with the rear side of the town starting up the slope of the nearest mountain, allowing a much larger building to have been constructed at some point that stood over most of the rest of the buildings. Several guard towers dotted the outer perimeter wall as well, allowing a good view both down the pasture and back up into the mountains.
Vorston smiled, “It’s been nearly forty years since I was last here. I assume that the taproom is still well stocked?”
“Most assuredly my friend. If not, I’ll be knocking a few heads together once we’ve settled.”
They made their way rapidly to the main gate leading into the town where several guards milled about, obviously having a less than exciting day. The approach of several travellers, two obviously not dwarves, caused them to stir to readiness.
“Put your bloody arms down!” Garron called ahead of them.
“Garron! Thought you were out hunting.”
“Arlor, we were. Can’t you see we made two big catches.” He waved toward Collett and Luda.
“Big, that’s not big.” He eyed Luda, “That’s bloody huge.”
Garron grinned as he stepped forward, “Welcome to my home. This is my brother Arlor.” Wrists were gripped all round before Garron continued, “We need to speak to father, is he here?”
“He’s up at the hall, I think he’s trying to avoid mother again.”
They all laughed before Garron spoke again, “We need to see him immediately. We’ll head up now, but you might want to follow when you get a chance.”
Arlor raised an eyebrow but said nothing further, just nodding.
Garron lead them through the narrow streets of the dwarf’s home, quickly reaching the great hall. He didn’t slow down for the guards at the entrance of the building to open the doors but pushed them open himself and repeating the process a few moments later as they reached the hall itself.
“Father!”
“Garron! Thought you were away for a few weeks.” The dwarf sat upon a large stone chair, with a few strategically placed cushions, at the head of the hall stood and moved toward his eldest son. He looked powerful, despite the grey lacing though his red beard and hair, and his grey eyes had a twinkling, slightly amused look to them.
“Everyone seems to think I was going to be gone a few weeks.”
“Probably because you told us all you would be gone for a few weeks. What happened?
“Plans change.
Gentleman, this is my father Harlin, I suppose sort of king of the dwarves though we don’t really go in much for kings. Father allow me to present Luda, Duke Holdur, and Commander Collett of the Boraan Royal Guard. I believe you’ve already met our other guest.”
“Vorston! Damn I’ve not seen you for what, thirty years.”
“Forty my lord. Good to see you again.”
“What brings you to our humble abode?”
“Nothing good. Luda and Collett would be better to bring you up to date as they’ve been involved pretty much from the start.” He motioned toward one of the few doors in the walls, “May we?”
Harlin nodded agreement and led them to the door in question, which opened into a medium sized room with a long table and several chairs. He motioned for everyone to take a seat before speaking again.
“Obviously something serious has come up, what can we do to help?”
Collett visibly relaxed at those words. “Do you have any knowledge of what’s happening south in Galorn?”
“We know that there’s something going on but not any detail. Last we heard there were rumours floating around about the King being absent and there have been some strange goings on to the north.”
“Oh?” Luda and Collett both leaned forward.
“Our patrols have seen groups of men being led by something else. Much taller and bulkier that we would normally associate with your brethren.”
“Mythraan, we also know of at least one of them as far west as Boraan.”
“Then that is a serious issue. Perhaps you’d better fill me in with the detail.”
“That we should.”
Vorston interrupted, “But not before we’ve had some food and ale.”
They all laughed as Harlin shouted for one of the dwarves waiting outside the door to fetch refreshments. “We’ll talk as we eat.”
Discoveries
Cal and Astridson sat at the table they had started to call their regular as they waited for Tamala to join them. They had spent the last couple of days talking with various merchants, trying to get some idea of when caravans would be arriving and what goods they may or may not be trading.
There hope was to come across an expected arrival that appeared to be moving no cargo. They were fairly certain that any J’dar caravan moving the Queen wouldn’t be wasting time stopping to trade.
Cal’s attention was drawn as he noticed the red headed sorceress enter the room. He also couldn’t help noticing a coup
le of pairs of eyes that followed her as she crossed to them.
“Any luck?”
Astridson answered for the pair of them, “None. There’s a couple of caravans due but we couldn’t find out anything about what they were carrying.”
Tamala paused for a moment before responding, “I’ve had an idea, but I’m not sure exactly how it will work.”
Astridson looked interested whilst Cal concentrated on the expression on Tamala’s face. “How dangerous an idea?”
Shrugging as she replied, Tamala tried to make her voice sound light as she replied, “I couldn’t say.
To be honest I’ve no idea, but has anyone got a better plan?”
“Better?” Astridson laughed, “You haven’t told us what your plan is yet. We could have dozens of better ideas.”
“True.
You obviously know of Farglobes, and the basics of how they can be used to communicate over distance?”
“Yes, mages use them to communicate with each other and some of the better ones can use them to actually see at distance as well.”
“Correct, and until recently I would have told you that that was the limit of the spell used to utilise them.”
“And now?”
Tamala looked at them both, “Now I think I may be able to utilise the spell without the use of a globe.
I’m not totally sure, but I think that as I’ve known Myriana since she was a baby, I may be able to pick out her mind if she’s anywhere near Churek.”
Cal took this in, glancing between his two companions. Hoping to gauge Astridson’s reaction and also to read how confident Tamala was in what she was proposing.
“This might be something which could draw attention to us.” The Lighter glanced meaningfully about the room, which was starting to get busier now the evening was drawing in. “Perhaps we should retire to our room to explore the idea further.”
Cal and Tamala nodded their agreement, before all three stood and headed for the stairs up to their rooms.
Once there they all entered the men’s room, as it was the larger of the two they occupied. Tamala sat at the end of Astridson’s bed, joined by him a moment later, whilst Cal sat upon his own pallet.
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