by Paul Yoder
Nomad putting his helmet back on and Fin unsheathing his stiletto once more, the two pressed the group onward through the network of hair and nails.
19
Headquarters and Deployments
The mechanical click of the iron-barred gate echoed through the tunnel as Fin unlocked the path leading up a flight of chiseled sandstone stairs.
Fin slipped through the opened, creaky gate and held up a finger signaling the group to wait where they were for a minute. Sneaking up the stairs without a sound, he disappeared from the rest of the group’s sight, leaving them waiting there in the dank tunnel.
They had only been a hundred feet or so from the tunnel entrance when they had ran into the greyoldor, and though it had scuttled off in the direction of the exit, the gate had been locked upon them arriving at it, leaving the group guessing as to how it had stayed out of detection as there didn’t seem to be any other way along the tunnel system where it could have escaped.
Fin wasn’t gone long before he strolled back down the stairs he had ascended moments ago.
“Leads up into some kind of officer’s quarters—quite abandoned so it seems. I still advise discretion,” Fin said, eyeing Cavok with his last statement, “but I see no immediate threat in the building above.”
“Alright, let’s move,” Reza said, already slipping around the partially opened gate, moving to pass Fin.
Keeping her seax readied, Reza marched the group up the stairs which led into a short hallway that opened up to a large corridor that was lined with officer chambers on either side.
Cautiously approaching one of the windows along the outer hallways at the end of the officers corridor, Reza peeked out the thick, glass windowpane to find that they were on the second floor of a building that was one of many lining a large courtyard. Taking in their surroundings, she sat down, back against the wall, and ordered the rest of the group to get low and out of sight as well.
“Well, where are we and what’s out there?” Bede whispered, asking the question everyone else was wondering.
Reza sheathed her seax and said, “The stairway let us out on the second floor of a building attached to a line of similar buildings. If they’re all somehow connected internally, I’m not sure, so we’ll need to be cautious in here.
“There’s a large courtyard down there. Looks like some military or ruling class wing of the city.
“What’s in the courtyard? I’m assuming you wouldn’t have had us get out of sight if you hadn’t seen anything down there,” Fin asked, trying to push Reza to her point.
Reza eyed Fin for a moment and said, “I was getting to that, Fin. There are a few ranks of arisen down there—”
Fin jumped in, asking, “How many we talking?”
“Fin!” Reza whispered a little too harshly, taking a moment to recompose herself before continuing. “Stop interrupting. Let me finish my thoughts. There were two troops marching out of the courtyard—maybe twenty in each. There’s some kind of opened, covered structure on the other side of the courtyard with two more divisions just standing there in file—forty tops in each division.”
Fin now had his hand raised, trying very hard to look like a schoolboy waiting for his teacher to call on him to comment. Reza slapped Fin’s hand down and huffed out an exasperated “What?”
“So what you’re saying is, there’s a hundred and twenty soldiers—give or take—right outside the window,” Fin said in a mockingly calm voice.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Reza responded, not appreciating Fin’s mocking tone in the least. “Looked like they are also accompanied by some of those heavily armored dark knights me and Nomad fought back in the dunes. By the looks of their formation, those knights might hold rank over the grunts we saw patrolling the streets. If there’s rank and order among this army, that means there’s intelligence somewhere up the line that’s organizing this army.”
Seeing his sarcasm wasn’t doing him any favors, Fin attempted to level with Reza.
“Reza, that is a force sizable enough, just in that courtyard alone, to merit us packing up and heading out. One misstep from any one of us and we’ll have a whole city of arisen bearing down on us.
“We now know, as you said, there’s order and leadership and that their numbers at the least number in the hundreds. Let’s add that to the things we’ve already found out about this enemy and head back to the Plainstate before we get in over our heads. Need I remind you we already have an escaped prisoner who ran off to who knows where to alert leadership of our presence.”
Reza, about to argue back with Fin, stopped herself and took a look around at the other group members, trying to assess if more seemed to share Fin’s reservations about the mission.
“How does everyone feel about our mission at this point? I am very determined to get what we came for, but if the majority of the group should agree with Fin, that we shouldn’t continue further, perhaps we could split the group if necessary.”
No answer immediately came, and Cavok went from a kneeling position, to laying down, resting in the back of the group, seeing that they might be there for a while.
“I’d love to stay—at least until we capture one of those arisen specimen. I’ve never been able to analyze this particular brand of dark magic up close and would very much like to do so,” Jadu said, tapping his fingers together in an unconsciously scheming manner.
Not happy with Jadu’s reasoning, but willing to take the vote to stay and continue with their intended mission, Reza nodded her head in acceptance of the vote.
“Nomad, what about you?” Reza asked, seeing that no one else was jumping to answer the question.
Taking a moment more to consider his answer, he took a seat on the floor, cross-legged, and answered.
“I pledged myself to your cause and to you back in the ruins. You are the leader of this group. I trust your judgment either way.”
Reza lingered on Nomad’s words for a moment before she turned to Bede and asked her the same question.
Bede had her eyes closed and clutched her talisman. She seemed desperately internally struggling over the issue, and the long wait for an answer began to cause everyone’s curiosity to pique, including Cavok who took his hand off his eyes to glance at the deliberating woman.
Her answer came in a weak voice, the answer seeming to weigh her down.
“There’s something—something here that—I don’t know how to describe. We are meant to be here, I feel. I’m sorry Finian, but I’m going to have to side with Reza, though perhaps not for the reasons she wants to stay for.”
The answer had left most slightly confused, including Reza. But seeing Cavok’s attention waning, Reza vocally prodded the man, saying, “Cavok, speak.”
Slowly sitting back up, he answered the terse invitation to offer his opinion on the matter.
“As Nomad said, I follow your orders—”
Reza, thinking Cavok was finished, turned to Fin and was about to address him when Cavok cut back in.
“But, if Fin is to leave us, I stay with Fin.”
Turning one more time to consider his additional stipulation, Reza issued a, “Fair enough,” then turned to Fin to ask, “Well, Fin?”
Fin looked sideways at the rest of the group to his right, issuing a disappointed sigh before shrugging his shoulders.
“If we’re going to stick around a city that houses an army of the arisen, you had better have a good and very specific plan for us to follow. This isn’t a job we’re going to be able to haphazardly improvise our way through. What do we need to accomplish before we can leave? How are we going to accomplish those objectives? And we’ll need to draw a line in the sand for when the risk factor becomes too high and we decide to abort the mission.”
Reza nodded her head and replied, “That’s a very reasonable demand. I do have in mind two specific things I’d want to know to call this mission a success. I want to know who is at the head of this army and a li
ttle bit about them, and I want to know how big approximately the army is. To know details on the motivations of the leader would be nice, but not necessarily imperative.
“If we’re spotted or our presence is given away at any point during accomplishing those two objectives, we pack up and head out immediately.”
Fin stroked his chin, considering Reza’s proposition, then said, “Alright. Hunt down the boss of this joint and do a little spying on them, then do some surveillance of the troops scattered about the city. It’s a tall order to fulfill, but as long as that’s it—as long as we pull out as soon as we complete those two objectives—I suppose I’m in.”
“Good,” Reza said, with the faintest smile showing for a moment before continuing.
“I suggest we split up to carry out both objectives simultaneously.”
“Split up?” Bede blurted out, following up with, “Reza, we’re deep in enemy territory. Splitting up doesn’t sound like the most sensible solution.”
It was Nomad that spoke up next, saying, “I makes sense. Larger numbers may help us take on a trial when trouble has found us, but fewer numbers helps us to avoid being found by trouble in the first place.”
Fin raised a finger and added, “I agree. I’d much rather us travel in small numbers and light if scouting and spying is all that needs to be done. Myself and Nomad alone could more than likely take care of both objectives, and the rest of the group could stay low and hidden here, securing our escape route while we gather what information we need to gather.”
“I don’t like sending you two out alone. Not that I don’t trust either of your capabilities when it comes to stealth, but if you got in over your heads, you’d have no way to call for backup,” Reza responded.
“I don’t like the idea of being alone in a city of arisen either, but if we get into trouble, backup of four more people won’t do anything against an army. Our only advantage currently is that we have not yet been detected, and even that might be untrue since we let that twisted praven go earlier. I’d keep hidden ten times better without any of your company, and I think Nomad would agree with me on this. If stealth is our clearest shot at accomplishing these two objectives timely and successfully, then this is what needs to be done.”
Reza scowled at the stone floor, deep in thought, thinking through the various options open to them and the probability of success for each. After a few moments, she looked up to address the group collectively.
“We’ll split into three groups of two. Cavok and myself will stay here to insure our escape route remains open, Nomad and Bede will make their way to the kings court to locate and gather more information of the leaders of this army, and Fin and Jadu will head into the center of the city and ascend Darendul Tower to survey the activity and numbers of the enemy from a vantage point.
“Cavok, our job here will be to occupy one of these officer’s quarters and maintain a basecamp. If either one of the two deployed parties needs assistance, we’ll do our best to keep an eye in their general direction and move to assist if we can. We’ll also do what we can to eliminate any passing threats in this area if we think it necessary, but for the most part, we’re just going to try and keep out of sight and stay put and provide aid if we see the need.
“Nomad and Bede. I wish we still had the maps of the city, but we don’t. They were on the camel when it was eaten. Do you know where the king’s court is from this location, Bede?”
Bede carefully rose up to peer out the window, past the courtyard below them, out into the city beyond. Whispering as she bobbed her head for a better look, “Should be past the noble and court buildings on the other side of this courtyard, shouldn’t it?”
“You got it. It’s not that far to travel, but you two will be moving through, what we can see to be, active enemy territory. You’ll need to take your time getting there and figuring out if indeed that is where the leaders of this army have set up camp. They might have chosen a different location to campaign from. You might even end up stumbling upon it en route. If you get there and find no evidence of a headquarters, then you might check in surrounding areas. If there’s nothing there, come back to us and we’ll regroup and talk about leads and assess our options.
“Also, Bede, I’ve seen how efficient a stalker Nomad is, and I’m confident that he can avoid detection in full gear, but I’d advise you to travel light, perhaps even traveling without your armor. Plate armor and chainmail can get pretty loud, regardless of how agile one is, so perhaps stripping down to light armor would be best for this mission.”
“Understood,” Bede responded without reservations.
“Fin. I’m assuming that you know where Darendul Tower is? It is the tallest structure in Brigganden after all.”
Fin, who appeared quite distracted, almost didn’t hear Reza’s question. A gentle nudge by Bede brought him back to the conversation.
“Oh. Umm, yes. I know where it’s at.”
Reza paused, looking at both Fin and Jadu now, seeing that Jadu looked just as distracted in secretive thought as Fin did.
“What’s going on here?” Reza asked, voicing her thoughts aloud with more than a little annoyed curiosity in her tone.
Fin, seeing that everyone’s attention now was on the two’s peculiar mood shifts, came forward with a short answer.
“Nothing. It’s just that it is a renowned enchanters association tower that’s more than likely riddled with deadly traps to keep out those who don’t belong.”
“Oh,” Reza said, considering the new information, “Well then, survey from another tall building.”
“No!” Both Fin and Jadu said simultaneously, with Fin letting out a nervous chuckle, following up with, “It’s nothing we can’t handle.”
“Nothing at all!” Jadu added, causing Bede and Reza to exchange very confused looks between one another.
“Tallest building and all, right? Best chance at getting a good look out into the city, that’s for sure,” Fin added unconvincingly.
Reza knew both had an ulterior motive for wanting to stick with surveying from that particular tower, and though she could guess at what that motive was—Fin being a borderline thief and Jadu being a book worm who constantly hungered for knowledge—the idea of being alone in a grand enchanter’s abandoned tower that could be rife with strange and exotic oddities was more than likely overloading their fantasies at the moment.
Reza knew they didn’t have time to argue over the matter, and she also knew she was on thin ground with even getting Fin to agree to follow through with the dangerous mission in the first place, so she decided to not contest the surveying location.
“Alright, the tower it is. Just be careful. An enchanter’s den is a web of illusion and danger, let alone a renown enchanter’s private college. Be alert, and be quick to obtain the information we need, and then return. Do not linger.”
Fin and Jadu were back in their fevered fantasies and didn’t even acknowledge the word of warning with a reply.
Nomad, seeing that Reza waited on an answer she was not going to get from them, said, “So, when do we set out?”
“As soon as Bede strips down to a light load and as soon as Fin and Jadu find their way back to reality,” Reza answered, shaking her head disappointedly at the two.
“What? We’re ready,” Fin said, suddenly more than attentive to the conversation.
“Yeah, let’s get going!” Jadu excitedly agreed.
Without a second look back, the small, bouncy praven and man adorned in daggers turned and were off down the corridor that led to the city proper with the rest of the group staring concernedly at the happy couple that could be easily skipping straight to their doom.
20
The Expansive Grounds
Fin was quite surprised to find that the small praven, when he wanted to be, was a natural at keeping hidden and moving silently through the streets.
The two had navigated their way down to the first story of the officer’s bui
lding and out a side door, delivering them out into the city streets which they had been slinking through for the past hour without any opposition.
Though most of the buildings in the business end of the city were notably neglected and fire had scorched some streets they had passed, for the most part, the damage done to the city as a whole wasn’t completely irreparable. If the arisen army was ever pushed out and the former residents of Brigganden were to move back in, Fin suspected life would return to normal within a short time—and that thought was heartening to him.
Fin, coming up to another street intersection, put a hand out to halt Jadu. Fin’s hand landed on the short praven’s face, just as he had subconsciously done twice before when calling for a stop, apparently forgetting that he was more than a foot and a half shorter than Fin was.
Swatting the large hand off of his face, Jadu gave a perturbed look up at Fin, who wasn’t paying the least bit of attention to the miffed praven. He took a quick look at what had the tall man’s attention so fixedly, and once he glanced the tall tower that stood before him, his gaze also stuck like a fly to honey.
Darendul Tower stood before them, surrounded by a hedge of considerable height. A gate was opened down the street, leading into the property’s garden. Standing close to three hundred feet, the base of the tower appeared to be constructed of granite stone blocks. The second tier of the tower looked to be small sandstone blocks, followed by the third and final tier constructed of tiny half-sized redish-black bricks. The whole shaft of the tower was cylindrical in shape, and each section of the tower was adorned with various trimmings made from all three main stone types the core of the tower was constructed out of.
“Every time I see it, I can’t help but take a moment to gawk,” Fin said under his breath, almost already seeming as though he was under a spell just by looking at the structure.
Snapping out of his daze before Jadu had, Fin looked both ways down the street, then nudged the back of Jadu’s head to get them moving towards the open gate. Both slipped silently like shadows across the street to enter the stone trail leading into the green gardens.
