Mace went back to his quarters and disconnected the battery backup on his pod. Then he undressed, locked his door, made sure his weapons were handy, and climbed into the pod. Before he closed it, he said “Peabody, can you route the camera feeds to my monitor in here?”
“Of course, Mace. Shall I do so?” Peabody asked.
“Only if you detect activity outside. I want to be able to see whatever’s moving from in here.” And with that, he closed the pod and closed his eyes.
*****
Shari spent the day back at the healing temple with Falin. She had trouble concentrating, and took several breaks to play with Snuffles and Mion, who were becoming good friends. Snuffles had been suspicious of the dragon initially. But the first time she demonstrated her ability to fly up onto a table and push food down to him, his opinion of her improved greatly. For her part, Mion seemed to like to snuggle with the pig, absorbing his body heat. And the two of them played some hybrid version of tag and marco polo. It was amusing to watch, and a good distraction for Shari.
Around noon, Arlon showed up with a bag of gold and a wallet with bank drafts. He exchanged them for the heart, saying “There is 3,000 gold in the bank. You have 1,000 gold in that bag, and the other 1,000 gold has been set aside for distribution to donating merchants. The elders have created a list of needed supplies, and are distributing it now.” He handed a list to Falin “Some bandages and herbs would be helpful, Falin” Then he returned his gaze to Shari. “Did Mace tell you of anything in particular that is needed?”
Shari smacked herself in the head. She’d meant to ask him about it. But with everything that happened, she’d forgotten. She admitted as much to Arlon. “But I will ask him today, and get back to you. I promise.”
When Arlon had left and Falin had gone to round up supplies, she pulled up her UI and sent Mace a message. She marked it urgent. Then she sat down to try and read.
*****
Mace was repairing a damaged front door when his message icon popped up. He had it set to voice, since he only got messages from Shari, and he liked listening to her. He mentally clicked on the message. “Hey Mace. Forgot to ask what specific supplies you want over there. The elves are starting to round them up. Message me back ASAP!”
He set down his tools and went to go find captain Charles. He hadn’t told the ogre, or anyone else, about the pending supply delivery. He’d wanted it to be a surprise. But it was more important to make sure they town got what it needed.
The ogre was standing by the gate, talking to several centaurs. When Mace approached, the centaurs all bowed their heads slightly. He greeted them all with a friendly smile, not wanting to interrupt their conversation. As it turned out, it had direct bearing on his question.
Charles said “We have more space than people to use it now. We could relocate some folks and create housing for your people inside the walls. Food may be tight if your crops are destroyed, or ours are. Or both.”
Mace’s interest increased. He cleared his throat. “Forgive me, captain. Why would you lose your crops? And what need is there for the centaurs to move inside the walls? Is there a problem with their village?”
One of the two elder centaurs who seemed to be village leaders answered for the ogre. “We no longer have sufficient hunters to keep the wolves and other forest predators at bay. And drow have been spotted in the forest. We think they know we’ve been weakened. They’re almost surely scouts for a raiding party. A week ago, they would not have dared move against us. Now, our ability to defend ourselves is uncertain. At least if we are inside the walls, it will be more difficult for them to take us.”
The other elder spoke next. “If we abandon our village, the forest animals will soon devour our crops. We cannot leave farmers behind as guards. They would simply be killed or taken by the damned drow.” he growled.
Mace agreed with everything they said. If there were drow nearby, they would be scouting for a raid. Either to take slaves, or just to kill the villagers and take what they had. “I think I can help you with both issues. Food, and the drow.” He said.
The ogre clapped his hands and said “This ought to be good. Go ahead, Mace.”
Mace decided to start with the food. “My friend Shari is with the elves. I’ve told her about what has happened here. She has convinced the elves, and partially bribed them, to send a caravan of supplies to help get your people, all your people, through the winter.” He looked at each of them as he said this. The centaurs all bent a leg and bowed more deeply. The captain reached out a hand to shake Mace’s. “Thank you, Mace.”
Mace continued. “Shari’s rounding up the supplies now. She wants to know if there are specific items needed. The elves are just guessing.”
Captain Charles nodded his head. “I’ll have a list for you in an hour.” He started to walk away, but Mace took hold of his arm. “Wait, there’s more. I can help with your drow problem, too. I am a Darkblade. Do you know what that is?”
The ogre shook his head no, but one of the centaurs spoke up. “Assassin. Killers among killers.” He sounded impressed. Mace answered “That’s right. I’m trained to kill drow. And… everything else. There are few more deadly than I am in all of Elysia. And none here on the surface.” He didn’t want to sound like he was bragging, but he needed these folks to have faith in his abilities.
“You tell me where these drow have been spotted, and I will eliminate them. If their scouts never return, the raiding party will not hear about you. At least, not anytime soon. You should have time to rebuild and regain your strength. You should also be able to guard your crops safely.”
A young centaur raised his hand “I’m one of the village scouts. I’ll take you to where they were seen.” Mace shook his head. “I appreciate that. And please do not take offense, but they’ll hear you a mile away. Just point me in the right direction, give me a description of the area. I’ll find them. How many were there?”
The centaur pursed his lips. “Three. That we saw. With drow, you never know. There is always another waiting out of sight. No offense.” Mace laughed “In Immernacht, that would be considered a compliment.” That got a chuckle out of several of the others. Mace continued. “The captain here will have his list in an hour. I’ll transmit it to Shari, then leave right after. In the meantime, please tell me as much as you can about where I’m going.”
Mace and the scout walked off to a quiet corner to talk. The hour passed as Mace asked questions about the types of trees, thickness of brush, whether the ground was rocky, how early it got dark, every detail he could think of. As they talked, Mace pulled out spell components and renewed the stone golem spell in his ring. The last one had been dismissed after the funeral pyre was built.
Soon enough, the captain approached him with the list. He took a snapshot of it with his recorder and sent it to Shari with a quick note to let her know he was going drow hunting. And with that, he was off.
He left the gate and headed into the forest. His direction was roughly westward as he hit the tree line. The scout had told him the drow were northwest of the settlement. But if Mace were in the scouting party, he’d have eyes on the Lakeside settlement too.
Once within the trees, he immediately climbed a wide oak with solid branches and stopped to listen. The forest was much different than the tunnels he’d trained in. For one thing, even if the creatures of the forest weren’t making their incessant noises, the wind was blowing through the trees, rustling the leaves. There was no such thing as silence. But there were currently no creature noises. Mace thought that might be because of him, so he continued to hold still. The critters should resume their movement and chatter soon.
Instead of animal sounds, he heard the snap of twig. No squirrel or rabbit would make that sound. He focused his vision in the direction of the sound without moving his head. In his black armor, with his hood up, he was nothing but a shadow among the branches. But drow could see shadows quite well.
Another sound, this one a rustle of leaves on the fo
rest floor in the same direction. Mace equipped his bow and slowly reached for an arrow. A third sound of leather rubbing against wood. He was sure now that he’d been followed, and that it was only one drow. He watched the spot he anticipated the scout would be, based on the progression of sounds. The scout was moving across from Mace’s left to his right, following the path Mace would have taken if he hadn’t stopped.
His patience was rewarded. A shadow moved out from behind a tree and bent to examine the path, looking for Mace’s footprints. Mace raised his bow and fired. The arrow pierced the top of the drow’s foot and pinned it to the ground. Mace quickly fired another arrow into the drow’s gut. His target hadn’t made a sound when hit with either arrow.
Mace leapt down from his branch and ran toward the drow. It was a female. Mace was momentarily thrown off guard. Drow society was matriarchal. Female drow ruled houses and did more intellectual work. Second and third daughters were spymasters, envoys, or sometimes married off to control houses of their own. It was rare to see a female drow in combat.
Overcoming his surprise, Mace unequipped his bow and drew his daggers. He stood over the wounded drow and said “Why are you here?”
The female hissed and stood up straight, despite the arrow in her belly and her foot still being pinned. “How dare you question me, boy! Do you know who I am?” She hissed at him.
He laughed. “I do not. If I knew who you were, I would also know why you are here. But why don’t you go ahead and tell me?”
“Impudent boy! How dare you speak to me so! I am-” Her sentence was cut off when Mace punched her in the throat. When she was through coughing, he shrugged, saying
“Changed my mind. Don’t care who you are. Do you know who I am?”
“A dead drow. Nothing more” she rasped at him, one hand to her injured throat. She glared at him with such hatred that some racial drow instinct within his avatar wanted to quail.
“My name doesn’t matter. What you need to know is that I’m a Darkblade.” he said, showing her the emblem engraved into his dagger and watching her eyes widen. “You and your party are interfering with my mission. Your lives are forfeit. Your House or Houses will be notified of the penalty the Council of Blades will impose.”
The female held up both hands in a sign of surrender. Mace could see the fear in her eyes. It was one thing to die. All drow expected death at any time. But to dishonor her House was a crime that her goddess would not look kindly upon. The female now believed her eternal soul to be at risk. “There… must be something. Something you need. Help completing your mission, perhaps. I have others with me.”
Mace pretended to think it over. “Take me to them.” He reached down and yanked the arrow from her foot. She grunted in pain but did not cry out. She braced herself, then nodded for him to pull the arrow from her gut. When it was done, she produced a health potion and held it up. He nodded, and she drank it down.
“This way.” She said before moving toward the northwest.
They walked for nearly an hour before she slowed. “Our camp is just ahead. I must signal, or they will fire upon us. He stepped behind her and held his enchanted dagger to her back. “Give your signal. But any hint of an attack and I’ll sever your spine.” He showed her his dagger. “You recognize this weapon? Made by a certain smith in Svartholm. It will take your soul, trap it within for all eternity. You will never meet your goddess.”
The drow made a trilling noise that was quickly answered from the trees ahead. Mace walked behind and to the left of the female, as was proper in drow etiquette. He poked her lightly in the back once, just to remind her that the dagger was close by. He followed her into the camp, passing by one sentry up in a tree to his left. There were two more drow sitting on rocks in the camp. They rose as she stepped close. She said “We have a visitor. A Darkblade.” and the two others reached for their weapons. She hissed at them. “Hold! Fools. You touch your weapons and none of us will live another minute!”
Mace looked at the drow to his right, the larger and more experienced looking of the two. “Your sentry has just pulled his bow behind me. Call him down here, or she dies, then you die, then he dies.” Mace said very calmly. The female nodded her head. The drow whistled a single note and waved for the sentry to join them. Mace turned his head slightly to watch the sentry drop from his branch and walk toward them. His arrow still nocked, but pointed downward. He stopped on Mace’s left when he’d entered the circle of the camp.
Mace motioned for him to move closer to the others, and he obeyed. “As she said, I am a Darkblade. Your incompetent presence here has been noted by the centaurs, and my mission has been made more difficult. I should kill you all right here and now, but your lady here has convinced me you might be useful. Sit.”
All of them did as he said, taking seats on rocks and a stump. “First, why are you here? Who sent you?” he asked the female. He didn’t make eye contact.
“We are a scouting party for House-”
Mace held up a hand “I don’t care what House. Slave traders, yes? The name doesn’t matter.”
She nodded her head and continued. “We came for kobolds. There are rumors of a village west of here. We were on our way to locate it when we saw the smoke from the battle. We noted the number of dead among the centaurs, then scouted their village. They are weakened. We could bring back our raid group and take them all. Then the settlement, too!”
“Fine. Have you already sent for the raid party?” Mace asked. The female shook her head. Mace turned to the archer. “You. You look fast. How long would it take you to reach the raid party and return with them?” The archer answered “A day. No more, Darkblade.”
Mace turned back to the female. “And is your party large enough to take the settlement with the centaurs inside? They have agreed to an alliance after seeing your scouts.” The female looked sick.
“No. We have a dozen more drow and thirty goblins. And we need to leave a few to guard a herd of minotaur we captured. We could take the centaur village, or the town without the centaurs. But not all at once.”
Mace began to pace, twirling his daggers as if deep in thought. “Are there other reinforcements nearby?” She shook her head again. “This is our territory. We defend it… vigorously. None would dare encroach here.”
Mace continued to pace. He was about to speak when he heard a rustling in the forest, back the way he had just been. The others heard it too. They all stood and faced the sound.
That damned centaur scout! He followed me! He’ll get himself killed.
Mace didn’t have time to worry about the centaur. If he was stupid enough to walk into a drow camp, he was going to die sooner rather than later anyway. Mace hissed for silence. Pointing to the archer, he made a series of hand signals. The archer quickly melted away around a large boulder, out of sight. He made a similar motion to the drow on his left, and that one moved the other direction. That left Mace with the female and one of the males. He motioned for her to move back behind the male. Then he activated his stealth ability and disappeared. He hoped the centaur would live long enough for his new plan to work.
First, he stepped behind the female, who was crouching behind the tent. Putting a hand over her mouth, he drove his soul dagger into her back. She stiffened as the dagger did its work, draining her soul. He let her body down gently, then stepped forward and stabbed the male drow in the back of the neck, severing the spinal column at the base of his skull. The drow dropped limply as the dagger finished devouring his soul.
Mace moved next to find the archer. He was most likely of the remaining two to be able to injure or kill the scout. Rounding the rock, he found the archer crouched behind a bush, watching the centaur. Mace got close behind the archer, then cleared his throat. When the archer turned, Mace drove his dagger up under the drow’s chin. He died silently, but in great pain as the dagger drained his soul. Mace was getting dizzy from the sensation. But he had one more drow to bring down.
As if in answer to his thoughts, the remai
ning drow appeared behind Mace and stabbed him. The blade entered his back and slid off his shoulder blade. Mace spun and was greeted by a drow with a shocked look on his face. Mace quickly realized that the shock was because of the arrow that sprouted from his chest. Mace slit the drow’s throat, the action causing the gash on his own back to widen. The pain was annoying, but it wouldn’t kill him. He looked up to find Minx jumping from a rock back to his shoulder. He hadn’t noticed her leaving during the battle. “What? No warning that time?” He asked her.
She wrapped her tail around his neck “Drow sneaky.” He couldn’t disagree with her there. He hadn’t heard that last one coming either.
He bent to loot the two drow at his feet, then moved back to the camp and looted the two there. Most of the loot was average for mid-level draw. Daggers, a decent bow, a few gold. The female yielded a House ring. One Mace didn’t recognize. It was a rare item, so he decided to hold onto it.
The centaur scout came walking up as Mace finished looting. Mace tossed him the drow’s bow and quiver full of arrows. “This might be too small for you, but maybe one of your colts can use it. Or you can sell it.” He gave the centaur an angry look. “Next time I say stay away, listen to me. You nearly got me killed with your thrashing about.”
The centaur raised his bow and pointed an arrow at Mace. “I heard you talking to them. You’re working with them!”
Mace’s jaw fell open. He looked at the centaur, his already thin patience gone. “Are you really that stupid? First you bumble in here and destroy my plan, which was working just fine, then you accuse me? I just killed them to keep them from killing YOU. Go away before I decide you’re too stupid to live.”
“But you were asking them about reinforcements to take out our village” The centaur did not lower his bow. “You’ve been one of them all along! You’ve weakened us and the town so that you could-” His sentence was cut off when Mace shot forward and sliced cleanly through the scout’s bow string. He used his momentum to vault atop the centaur’s back, then placed a dagger at his throat. “Shut up. Shut up and listen to me. DO NOT SPEAK ANOTHER WORD or I’ll slice your damn throat and say these drow killed you for being stupid. Which they would have if I HAD NOT STOPPED THEM!”
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