Chain of Bargains dm-5

by Jeff Inlo

  Whether it was true or not was immaterial. He was forced to acknowledge the severity of his situation and the limitations of his knowledge. He could not fight supernatural powers and hope to survive.

  With nothing else to do, Ryson eyed a path to the border of the city. Full retreat, even perhaps leaving the valleys entirely, seemed his only option. He would travel as far as necessary to lose the inferns. He did not wish to leave Holli behind in Ashlan, but he was out of options. He hoped that as long as he carried the beacon stone, she would be able to find him.

  Chapter 14

  With absolute clarity, Holli could sense the magical pulse from both stones, almost see them like two separate strings of light cutting through a dark room. The single beacon that flowed from the rocks when they were merged together in Ryson's possession had broken apart. One vibration had turned into two, and she could follow them both through their magical tremors. She understood the meaning. Ryson had discarded one of the stones in order to summon her, and she would not delay in finding him.

  After exiting the house of the spell caster Brenn, Holli remained upon the rooftops. She wished to avoid attention as she could ill afford any distractions. Honing in upon the signals, she assessed the qualities of both. One beacon created a distinct and direct line of magic. It did not move-not by lengthening or shortening, or by changing its angle of approach. She could almost pluck at it like a string on an instrument.

  The second stone also beckoned her, but its signal wavered and trembled. The line of magic vibrated almost violently, as if it was connected to a large fish trying to escape a hook in its mouth. She knew it was that stone which Ryson held.

  Narrowing first on the position of the unmoving stone, Holli fixed the direction of the beacon to a distinct section of the city. She used it to assist her, help her keep track of course and distance. It formed a clear reference point, but to locate the delver, she would have to follow the moving beacon.

  In mere moments, she realized reaching him would be no easy task. Ryson was moving with great intensity. The trail of magic to the beacon stone he carried fluctuated as if it was being tossed about in a twister. Only Ryson's speed could account for the furious movement. Following the trail of magic was like trying to draw a line to an angry hornet buzzing furiously around its nest.

  With the delver running in such a relentless fashion, she worried about his well-being. In fact, she began to imagine the worst, and she prepared for a full-blown encounter with human guards, goblins, and inferns. She could not imagine what else would press him into such wild abandon.

  Her concerns were not without merit for the truth became plain as she continued to monitor the progress of the magical signal. If Ryson simply wished to meet with the elf, he would have found an area of safety after discarding the first stone. There would be no reason to dash through city streets, and such movement would be counterproductive.

  After a few moments, however, the hectic pulses of the beacon began to subside. Ryson was slowing and the elf believed he had probably outraced any danger or found a place of sanctuary. Her relief was short-lived.

  Before she saw anything, she felt it. The beacon stone in Ryson's possession lit up with a wave of power beyond her original casting. Instead of simply transmitting a pulse outward, she sensed energy surging back to the stone. Holli could feel the demon fire burning across the waves of energy like a brush fire stoked by high winds during the dry season.

  From the very area she assessed as Ryson's location, she saw a bright flare light up the night, as if white lightning exploded, not from the sky, but at a localized point on the ground. Horrified, Holli understood the implications of such a burst.

  Mystic fire could appear at the whim of a demon-even a half-demon. As long as the dark creature maintained a bond with its target, it could spread fire across any space, even through dimensions. Holli knew an infern had somehow obtained the discarded beacon stone and was using it as a direct link to the other rock held by Ryson. Even a delver could not outrun demon fire. He could race all the way to the far western coast, and still he would be vulnerable.

  Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, she hoped to reach the delver as quickly as possible. She doubted she had to concern herself with drawing any attention. She expected Ryson was creating enough commotion to keep any guards and inferns occupied throughout the city.

  Unfortunately, his twists and turns made reaching him even more difficult than she expected. She would never be able to catch him if she attempted to close in from behind. In order to contact him, she would have to anticipate his forward path and try to cut him off.

  While Holli followed the chaotic path of the delver, she knew it was not totally random. His route had not been direct, but it had not been circular, either. He was trying to escape a certain point, probably the place of some initial encounter. Examining his direction, she believed she understood what area he was trying to leave, and to her fortune, he was moving toward her as opposed to away from her. If not, she doubted she could have caught him.

  Racing across the rooftops, Holli saw several more bursts of fire. She also continued to sense the movement of the delver's stone. In that, she found hope, for as long as the stone moved, she knew Ryson was alive.

  Tracking his path, the elf noted another distinct pattern. The delver was holding to alleys and side streets. He fought hard to remain within tight corridors. She knew it was a false hope to escape detection, but she also knew the delver well enough to understand his tactics. There was, however, one main avenue that Ryson would not be able to avoid if he maintained his direction. From up high, she could review his most likely path. Once he stumbled into the wider well-lit street, she believed he would quickly exit to a lesser traveled path.

  Making her best guess, she positioned herself upon a tall building that overlooked two narrow alleys on both of its sides. If the delver stayed on his current course, he would break into the main avenue several blocks ahead of her. It was enough of a buffer for her to intercept him. Unfortunately, she had to anticipate his movements. If he turned left, she would have to chase him. That would be disastrous, but if he moved to his right or advanced directly across the avenue, she could cut him off.

  As the delver dashed onto the main street and made an immediate left turn, Holli cursed, but she did not hesitate. She leapt from the building to a neighboring rooftop, then down to the ground. Once on the streets, she made her own dash. In the back of her mind, she had already formed a contingency plan and she carried it out as her last hope.

  In a second instant, she was immediately torn between hope and horror. She could sense the delver slowing on the wide street ahead of her. She believed he worried over the humans nearby. The pause would allow her additional time to reposition herself, but it would also place Ryson in grave danger.

  As expected, she felt the demon fire rage through her magical connection to the beacon stone. The night lit up with another flash of white light, but still the beacon stone moved. Ryson had escaped the assault, but it had been very close.

  She felt yet another blast of demon fire, but the delver had again dodged the strike. He was moving again, making a mad dash to save his life.

  In analyzing Ryson's movements, Holli believed she sensed a sudden change in the delver's strategy, and she saw his ultimate objective. The delver was heading out of Ashlan. She knew it wouldn't save him, but Ryson couldn't understand that. He was grasping at hope-a hope that was in itself false-but the path he chose might actually lead to salvation, if Holli was quick enough.

  She could reach him. She knew it. She could almost map out his exact path. The waves she gained from the beacon stone confirmed it. She would have to run through busier streets and risk revealing herself to any patrols, but if she angled her path toward the delver, she would have her opportunity.

  Fortunately, not a single infern, or even a human guard, blocked her way. Holli made it to the all important crossroads with only a few moments to spare. Pulling the bow from her shoulder,
she stopped at the center of a side street with three adjoining alleys in front of her. Ryson would escape through one of them, but she could not be certain which he would choose. If she yelled, he'd probably hear him, but she had to be sure.

  She took three arrows from her quiver and fired them in quick succession. They cut through the air in separate paths, and each plunged into the ground at the center of an alley. Her timing was early, but that was far safer than too late.

  Ryson increased his speed after the last burst of demon fire. He continued to utilize back alleys, but his path turned more direct. He didn't have to worry about escaping a trailing infern. He had to outrun demon fire, and for that, speed was more critical than a twisting course.

  He knew the shortest path to the outskirts of the city and he raced forward with near abandon. Keeping his senses alert to everything around him, he saw an arrow's impact into the ground ahead of him. At first, he wondered if the human guards had entered the chase, but the path of the arrow defied that reasoning. It had been fired as a marker to catch his attention.

  Holli.

  Placing the trajectory of the arrow in his mind, he followed it back to its source. Instead of remaining in the alleys, he bolted to the far end of the narrow path and out into a wider street. He turned and immediately spied the elf in the center of the road.

  Holli wasted no time in issuing her warning.

  "Discard the stone!"

  "What?"

  "The beacon stone in your pocket. Get rid of it!"

  Ryson didn't have to ask again. He pulled the rock from his pocket and tossed it aside.

  "Get away from it!" Holli commanded.

  Ryson didn't question the second order. He sped away just as Holli followed him down the street. Before she reached him, another bright flash scattered the darkness. It burned over the beacon stone.

  Holli guided Ryson toward the corner of a merchant's shop and directed him to climb to the roof. She followed quickly as she scanned the surrounding grounds for any signs of guards or inferns.

  Their last known position could still be traced to the second discarded stone, so Holli pressed Ryson onward but directed him toward the center of the city. After proceeding several blocks by leaping across rooftops, she finally asked him to stop. They both took one quick moment to ensure that no one was in earshot before they spoke.

  They stood upon the flat rooftop of a large storehouse. The surrounding streets remained quiet. They spotted the familiar glow of a handful of inferns, but the half-demons remained in the distance and showed no sign of approach.

  Ryson quickly caught his breath. He looked to Holli with appreciation, sensing that she saved his life.

  "I was in trouble, wasn't I?"

  Holli nodded.

  "What actually happened back there?" Ryson asked.

  "One of the half-demons must have noticed the beacon stones on you. When you cast away the first stone, it not only alerted me, it also allowed the inferns to follow you no matter where you went."

  "They were able to sense the same thing you could?"

  "Not exactly the same. It was my spell and so it called to me differently, but they were able to fix on the enchantment. They must have seen you discard the first stone and then took hold of it. When they did, they were able to use it to gain a fix on the stone you continued to hold."

  Ryson shook his head as he considered everything he knew. Most of Holli's explanation made sense, but he doubted the following infern saw him discard the first stone. He believed they found it another way.

  "You think otherwise?" Holli asked.

  "Sort of. I believe you that they found the first stone, but they didn't see me throw it away. One of the inferns said it searched me. It didn't actually physically touch me, but I think it was able to probe me. They say they can taste things, but I think it goes further than that. I think they can sense delvers, the magic that's inside of us naturally. I have a feeling it matched the magic that's part of me against the enchanted stones."

  "That would make sense," Holli agreed. "They might have sensed opposing energies upon you. The contrast would allow them to define each magical vibration. That would alert them to the existence of the stones, but they would have still needed one in hand to send their fire through dimensional space."

  "Dimensional space?"

  "Yes. They did not need a direct line of fire. They were linked to the stone and could strike at you from any where."

  The explanation did little to soothe the delvers concerns. If anything, it raised them. He thought of the face of the infern that flew after him. The frowning expression turned into fires of anger and hate, flames the delver could never outrun. He looked about as he sniffed the air. He wondered if he would smell it again, the unnatural scent of demon fire. Unconsciously, he began to pace about the roof, not wanting to remain in one position for too long.

  Holli, however, placed her focus on what to do next and quickly developed a strategy to move forward.

  "They will know you were not burned. They would feel it if they succeeded. Even from great distances, demon fire would allow them to feed on your flesh. Their hunger will remain unsatisfied and so they will know you have escaped. They will also determine that you no longer hold the second stone. Let them think you dropped it by mistake and that you left town. You will be lost to them unless we are careless and allow them to get too close."

  "Let's hope so," Ryson blurted out, not wishing to get near another infern again.

  "How did they recognize you?"

  "I don't think they did. In fact, one was pretty insistent on asking for my name, so it didn't know who I was."

  "Why were they after you?"

  "They didn't like me asking questions. They're also registering delvers. I don't know why. I think they've been doing it for a while. They knew I wasn't registered."

  "What else did you learn?"

  Holli and Ryson shared the information they had gathered over the past three days. Certain facts proved consistent. The goblins plagued most of the city. The inferns maintained control. Some people decided to abandon Ashlan, while many others chose to stay. Those that remained accepted the circumstances, though most did not look upon them with high regard. The leaders of the city endorsed the situation, even strove to stamp out any resistance. Order prevailed throughout Ashlan, but so too did a tense unease.

  Other than the enforcement of order by the inferns, there was no major conflict within the city borders. In that regard, Ashlan mimicked the rest of the towns and outlying areas of the Great Valleys. Peace prevailed. It might have been a tense peace, but hostilities were muted nonetheless.

  Holli reviewed all of the information, but found few answers. The mystery remained. She could not fathom why goblins were allowed to enter the city or why control was essentially handed over to the inferns. The city was not prospering, neither were the surrounding farmlands. If it had been some grand experiment, it had failed miserably. What she couldn't understand was why the leaders of the city refused to come to the same conclusion.

  She also wondered what the goblins hoped to obtain. They were devious creatures and they did not aspire to become farmers in the fields or merchants in some town. They wished only to create chaos, to steal what they wanted, and to cause pain and suffering to weaker creatures. Their muted aggression was as perplexing as the human's withdrawn consent.

  "It is time we start obtaining answers," Holli announced.

  By her definitive tone, Ryson understood her intentions.

  "Prilgrat?"

  "Yes. It is late and we shall seek him at his home." Holli then reached to remove the sheath of the Sword of Decree from her shoulder. "Here, you should have this back. I am not looking to cause a conflict with this regional steward, but I am at the end of my patience. I plan to demand certain explanations and this might not be pleasant."

  Ryson hesitated, and his eyes revealed something beyond uncertainty. A delver can be led to confusion if enough opposing enticements attract his curi
ous nature, but hesitancy born from dread is not a common trait. A delver's natural ability and bounding inquisitiveness often lead him to taking risks that even a stubborn dwarf would avoid, yet Ryson looked to Holli with clear reluctance.

  "I… uh, could you just keep it for now?"

  "It would be of better use in your hands, not mine."

  "I can appreciate that, but I want you to hold on to it for a bit longer."

  Holli eyed the delver suspiciously. She attributed Ryson's concern to his passive nature. She was aware of the delver's reluctance to enter conflict, but their investigation had reached a tipping point. She was determined to get answers and Ryson's reservations against hostility would only serve to deter them from their objective. She could not allow that, and if he planned to remain passive, she would go alone.

  "You won't take your sword?"

  "Not just yet."

  "Why?"

  Ryson grimaced at the question. He took a moment as he dug for a reasonable answer. Eventually, he spoke as if trying to rationalize the decision as a point of minor consequence.

  "Like I said before, the inferns didn't know who I was. That means I didn't match their description. No sense making it easy for them to figure out who we are. I think you should continue holding on to it for a while."

  "That will be irrelevant when we meet with Prilgrat. I intend to reveal our identity to him as I want to know why he put out the order to have us held."

  "I guess that's true, but there's something else." Ryson remained hesitant to speak, even reluctant to face the facts himself, but after seeing Holli's expression, he offered a glimpse of the truth. "It's the inferns. I'm a bit worried about how they were able to latch onto the beacon stones when one was in my pocket. If they have some kind of demonic link to me personally, they may know when I come in contact with an enchanted item."

  "I think you are overreacting. The stones were meant to find you, the sword does not utilize the same enchantment."