Chapter 5
[<<Back]We introduce a second new character, Dharak
The castle looms ominously on the horizon.
Dharak didn't know quite what to expect. The vague sense of dread at the back of his mind seems to have lessened somewhat; maybe it was all in the mind.
The local humans and vordral had never considered the castle to be a particularly evil place. The kandar wizards were strange people, true, but they never tried to impose their will on the locals. If anything their presence was more of an insurance policy against the rampaging knights of kardak that might have terrorised the human tribes had the wizards not been there.
What strikes Dharak is the silence. Normally there would be uniformed sentries on the gatehouse, and a few more patrolling the walls. But this time, there is nothing.
Even the birds in the trees are silent....
It's been awhile since Dharak has seen a battlefield, but not so long that he's forgotten that eerie stillness that follows the final exchange of blows. The victors might not be far away, and might not be friendly.
He kneels behind a tree and loads his crossbow, as quietly as possible. He then works his way toward the front gate, using all available cover, looking for any clues as to the identity of the attackers, or their route of approach. His mental defenses are raised; given the inhabitants of this citadel, Dharak doubts that any assault upon it would be solely physical.
If he finds any fallen weapons, bodies, or other spoor of battle, he will touch it and attempt to get a psychic impression of recent events.
It occurs to him that any Calbeyn kandar who might find him here could know his reputation, and might well be very comfortable blaming him for whatever might have befallen the resident mages. He hesitates for a moment, but the lingering pull of his dreams is too strong. He must enter the castle. He's sure of it.
And if he's seen? Burn that bridge once we've crossed it, Dharak thinks, allowing himself a wry smile. For now, best not to be seen.
He does notice some scorch marks on the ground close to the wall, where the grass and weeds have burned. He also sees a glint which turns out to be a crossbow bolt sticking out of the ground.
There are no bodies outside the gate.
Dharak touches the crossbow bolt, and tries to sense it's history. Apart from a vague sense of having been fired and having missed, he can't tell anything of great relevance about it, although there is a strong feeling of Filgeth about it; presumably it was made there.
The gates of the the castle stand invitingly open. They don't appear to have been forced.
The moment he approaches the gatehouse, he gets a sensation that a great mental battle has been fought here, very recently.
Dharak walks quietly through the gatehouse, keeping close to one of the walls and glancing upward, looking for murder holes. When he reaches the entrance to the courtyard, he pauses and surveys the grounds. Where are all the casualties? he wonders.
There is indeed a murder hole in the ceiling as he passes through the gatehouse. Beyond the gatehouse a walled embankment stretches towards the courtyard of the castle proper.
There are no bodies visible, but the sensations of the great mental battle are very strong in the gatehouse area.
He notices steps leading to the upper floor of the gatehouse.
As he picks his way along the right-hand wall of the embankment toward the courtyard, Dharak finds it increasingly implausible that the Academy of the Mind could have won this battle. However decimated they might have been, would they not have immediately posted a sentry at the gatehouse? And for that matter, would not a victorious attacker have done the same?
Maybe the mages are holed up in the keep, he thinks. Or maybe, given the pervasive atmosphere of psychic combant, maybe the assault was purely mental. Maybe they all killed each other, or have been sent to some hidden location within the castle for some unknown purpose. What mystic power could have overcome a castle full of wizards? And would his own mental defenses protect him from a simliar fate?
I do believe you're heading in the wrong direction, my brother, Dharak thinks as he approaches the courtyard.
Once Dharak has reached the courtyard, he's confronted by a body lying on the ground. Upon close examination, it's the corpse of a middle-aged kandar, plainly dressed.
Not anyone he recognises. He estimates that he's been dead for at least two days, possibly more, but there's no signs of any physical injury. There is no obvious indication as to how he died.
Dharak scans the surrounding walls, looking for doorways, windows, and other likely avenues of ambush. He then kneels beside the body and touches it, trying to pick up some impression from the clothes (or the corpse itself) of who this kandar was, and/or how he died. If necessary, he will rifle the kandar's pockets for actual clues, or anything that might be personal enough to contain a psychic imprint of his identity.
The possibilities for attack and ambush are far too great; although it's no longer a military establishment, it's still very much a castle, designed for defence against intruders. And Dharak is the intruder here.
Dharak senses that the body has been dead for two or three days; again he can sense echoes of a mental battle. Someone has already rifled the body, very recently, and this has muddied the echoes a little.
To the keep, then. If there are any survivors, that's where they'll be. And what will I tell them? Dharak wonders as he crosses to the doorway leading into the keep. "Oh no, Mr. Wizard d'n Kandarpants, I'm not a bandit. I'm just an armed human from the wilderness who had a bad dream."
As unsettling as this doomed fortress is, Dharak finds his own irrational compulsion to search the place more than a little amusing.
The doors have been forced, and very recently by the looks of it. He steps inside to find a scene of desctruction. There has been a battle in the shattered great hall of the castle. The great wooden table is overturned, chairs shattered, tapestries and wall-hangings torn and charred. Two bodies lie on the floor, one of them badly burned.
With all the stealth he can muster, Dharak steps through the hall, passing close enough to the bodies to ascertain their race, gender, whether they were armed -- without stopping to examine them closely. He scans the walls for exits, especially stairs leading upward. That tower he saw before might give him a good vantage point to survey the whole castle.
He's trying to reconcile the clues he's seen so far. That corpse outside was at least two days dead, and had been looted. The door to this hall had been recently forced -- by the looters, he supposed. Bandits? If the human band he'd been teaching wasn't doing the looting, then he didn't know who else it might be, except perhaps some of the vordral he'd heard about.
But what were the chances that human or vordral brigands would be psionic? Those echoes of mental combat were extremely fresh, fresher by far than the dead kandar in the courtyard. And they'd locked minds in the gatehouse, the first floor of which, at least, had been empty. So ... either the psionic attackers had made a final push, mentally at the gatehouse and physically here, busting through the door (which meant they might well still be inside), or maybe the Academy of the Mind had sent a rescue mission that had to fight its way in
Dharak shakes his head. Either way, this could get ugly.
Just like the outer door, the door into the tower has been forced. Dharak can hear voices from somewhere higher up in the tower.
Here we go, he thinks. Dharak picks his way through the door to the tower, with the intention of sneaking close enough to the speakers to eavesdrop upon them. Then he'll decide whether to hide, or to introduce himself. He's beginning to like to "Academy of the Mind rescue mission" scenario, but that could be either good or bad. If they were Progressors, he might be able to have a reasonable conversation with them. If he found himself eyeball-to-eyeball with half a dozen of those Kasranth Sar sister-*&^@ers, he'd be one dead Son of Man.
We'll find out soon enough. Onward and upward ... quietly.
-o0o- Dharak can hear at least three distinct voices.
{[Dharak]So, an Academy of the Mind rescue force, along with a couple of survivors. That martial-sounding kandar appears to be in charge, but there are at least a couple of humans, and they seem to be more or less equal partners in the venture.}
That's good enough. Dharak removes the bolt from his crossbow, uncocks it as quietly as possible, and hooks the weapon on his belt. He draws his walking stick from over his right shoulder.
He begins speaking before he steps across the threshold into the tower room.
"I don't know how much more information you require," Dharak announces, speaking Mannish with hint of a Far Western accent. He steps into the doorway and surveys the occupants of the room. "It's clear that whatever assailant lay siege to your minds in the gatehouse was also responsible for setting the residents at each other's throats."
He is human, of average height, clad in a reddish-brown cloak, olive drab trousers, and a dull brown leather helmet, cuirass, and boots. All of his gear looks a bit the worse for wear, and is dusty. His skin is medium brown with a ruddy gold undertone. He smiles slightly through a neatly trimmed black goatee; short black dreadlocks protrude from the back of his helmet. His deep brown eyes shine with self-assurance. In his gloved right hand, he holds a polished hardwood walking stick.
He glances at the very tall human with the bloodstained sword. "I'm sorry, brother, but I doubt that wizard will be able to conjure up a salve for your conscience."
Reylorna notes the newcomer and comments "the creature that controlled some of us, probably controlled others here as well. How is it you were left unscathed?" So far she didn't recognize any of the newcomers, but then she hadn't expected to. The only one she had see at the academy was sitting dead near her now.
Dharak regards the white-robed woman gravely. "Quite simple, young sister. I wasn't here. My name, by the way, is Dharak. I am a teacher, and was spreading knowledge among the hard brothers and sisters of this wilderness, when one night, into my dreams an awful presence came. I dreamt of blood, fire, death, an unseen enemy -- and of this castle.
"So perhaps I was not totally uscathed, after all. I was drawn here today -- I entered the gatehouse not long after you did, I think. Close enough behind to sense the magnitude of your struggle with ... well, whatever it was." Dharak glances from the kandar with his hand in his tunic, then back to the woman. "What have you learned about this thing that wrought such destruction?"
Reylorna looks at him warily, but she does take people at face value until they prove themselves otherwise. "The creature has a distorted view of the world, unlike any I have ever experienced. It is very powerful and able to control many individual minds. We were able to put it to sleep, but how long it will stay asleep I can not say. I would offer that we should find it and kill it soon before it has a chance to wake up. If it gets away or controls some of us, there will be havoc again." Her soft face shows the strain that she has suffered through today and the last few days, clearly it has been work for her.
Dharak raises an eyebrow. "A wise idea, sister. Is that why you broke into the keep, to find this monster and dispatch it? Do you have any idea where it might be in this castle?"
"I don't believe I caught your name, by the way -- or anyone else's, for that matter."
Reylorna nods in acceptance of the compliment. "We came to find out if the residents of the keep were alright. The leader was an associate of mine." Pausing she watched him for a moment before continuing. "Reylorna is my name," she finally answers.
"I'm Jorg," says the huge man with the bloody sword.
"Well-met, big man," Dharak acknowledges Jorg, with a nod.
"Jaldaric Madmartigan, I", adds the minstrel, "not of any noble house or high name, merely an observer and displayer of great events."
Dharak scoffs a little at that comment. "Brother Jaldaric, you find a noble house in this world that will allow you and me through the front door without a bucket and a mop in our hands, you let me know."
"My name is now Duplar", announces the Kandar in the ordinary brown tunic, "and it is so because the 'noble' house I was born into denies me my familly name. But just as the Guild has and the Accademy is learning it must, the noble houses of the Kandar will eventually learn that Humans are good for more than drudgery. Either that or they will find that they are no longer as noble as they would like to believe.
"I have studied the art of finding things with my mind, but I need something to use as a link. Have we anything which might serve as such?
"By the way, the sword is exactly what it seems - a tool which has been used for killing. It has killed too many too recently for me to tell much more than that."
Jal's hands move away from his weapons as the tensions relax.
"Reylorna," Dharak begins, stepping further into the room, toward her. As he walks, his moving cloak reveals a crossbow and quiver of bolts slung at the small of his back, and a large knife on his belt. "Clearly you, and likely others in this company, are gifted wizards. You say you are all too familiar with this thing's mind. Have you studied the discipline that would allow you to locate that mind, ere it rouses from its slumber?"
Reylorna watches him approach with her own inheirent timidness coming to the forefront. But she answers him after a moment. "I can locate it if it is active and using wizardry. But I am afraid that if it is awake and using its powers we will be too late."
Dharak shakes his head. "My own abilities have only allowed me to sense its presence in the places where it mentally attacked you. I really wouldn't know where to start searching for this thing, or even what it looks like. Do you have any idea whether it's within these walls, or somewhere outside? I don't fancy a moonlight monster hunt through the woods, but I agree with Reylorna: Press the advantage, kill it as it sleeps."
He glances at the dead kandar seated at the table. He walks over to the open book and begins to read it's grim contents.
"The view I had from it's mind when we did battle with it earlier, was rather distorted", says Reylorna, "But I believe it was outside the walls."
Dharak looks up from the book. "Well, it appears that this 'shaggy beast' was still outside two days ago. And perhaps it is still recovering from its wounds on that day."
He glances at the human with the funny hat, at the scared-looking kandar in leather armor, then at the grim kandar who looks every inch a warrior. Probably not a knight, if he's in mixed company...
"Well, soldier?" he asks of the kandar he guesses to be a legionnaire. "What do you think? There might yet be enough light to track this monster, if there is a tracker among us."
"Many of the diary entries seem to imply that forces were sent 'out' to search for it or fight it," Jaldaric notes, "that would tend to indicate that it was outside then. Of course, now it's finished the job it may have moved in."
"One thing's for sure - we must not split up, and we must keep an eye on each other for pernicious influences."
"Keep an eye on each other for what?", says Jorg, as he pulls a rag off his belt and begins cleaning the blood off his sword.
"The beast has a nasty habit of trying to take people over." states Jal bluntly, watching the two new arrivals intently for their reactions.
"As long as you keep talking, Brother Jaldaric, we'll know you're free of 'pernicious influences.' I doubt this beast could simulate your droll wit." Dharak winks at the bard.
He turns again to Reylorna. "When you fought this thing, sister, did you engage its mind directly, or did you battle within the mind of another? If you were able to put it to sleep in direct combat, wouldn't it have to be within range of your power -- and couldn't we narrow our search that way?"
"It was direct mental combat." Reylorna paused obviously thinking for a moment before answering "yes, I believe you are correct, it would have to be nearby. As to exactly how far, well I am not one hundred percent sure. We did different drills for practice at the Academy, but I wasn't completely consistant. I was just learning at the time."
She paused again before continuing "though I think we can safely say within a couple of miles. Again I would think farily near the keep, it could see the walls, I think."
"Two miles." Dharak says flatly, suppressing a grin. "Here I am trying to narrow things down, and sister starts talking about 'two miles.'" He shakes his head in mock disappointment. "If you just didn't shine so brightly, girl, we might have an easier time finding this creature."
"Well, you all look like you've had a hell of a time," he declares, addressing the whole company. "I'm sure you could use some rest, but I believe we would all be marginally safer hunting this thing by night -- working our way outward from the walls, as Reylorna suggests -- than we would be holing up here and waiting for it to awaken. But I damn sure won't be going out there by myself, so if you all don't mind, I'll go along with whatever you think is best."
He rests both hands on his walking stick and waits.
"I agree that we should all stick together", says Reylorna. "Not only for strength in numbers but also for the reason my colleage mentioned earlier. It can easily take one of us and turn him or her against the others. The only way to stop it, will be to see it happen and attack right away.
Jaldaric laughs cheerfully. "Does that make me a canary, Sister Reylorna? Well, let's hope you wizards have good reflexes. I'd hate to be wearing someone else's mind as an overcoat.
Jorg watches the banter going back and forth. He seems confused.
"More like irons to hold your mind and force it to do what ever the creature wishes..." Reylorna answered his humor with seriousness.
Dharak listens to the exchange between Reylorna and Jal, and winces. "Save some of that for when we find the beast," he pleads. "If we cannot defeat it by mental combat or force of arms, perhaps you two can kill it with mixed metaphors."
He looks Jorg in the eye. "What's troubling you, big man?"
"Nothing, really", he replies. "But shouldn't we be doing something, not standing here? Maybe I just don't understand."
"We should, and we will," replies Jal rather more seriously, "but we need to have a clear understanding of what we are all thinking of doing first."
He looks over at the old mageguard. "You, and Reylorna, know the layout of this place," he points out, "how about picking a place to start?"
"Actually I have never been here, so no I don't really know how it is laid out.", Reylorna states softly and truthfully.
"Likewise," says Duplar, "I have been based in Calbeyn and have not needed to come here before."
"Well, I know my way around the public areas pretty well", says Jorg "Where do you want to go?"
Ryzar shrugs, looks at his bronze dartgun, then holsters it.
"Actually," Ryzar says, in his thickly accented Mannish, "I think we've had this discussion. Witch Reylorna said -- if I remember correctly, my Lady --" Ryzar nods deference at Reylorna, "That, just as the Beast was going into the sleep that she induced, she saw distorted images of what appeared to be outside the fort. Thus, we believe that the Beast is outside, now.
"However, it is now after sunset -- albeit JUST after sunset. As someone who has spent much of his life outside, hunting and tracking both animal and enemy, I can tell you that it will be difficult to locate the Beast by normal methods. We can try -- we must try! But, it will be difficult." Ryzar pauses, to let that sink in.
"We must hurry back down, and go outside the walls, then form a line -- with several paves between each of us -- heading away from the wall. Then, we will all walk around the fort, sweeping the ground before us." Again, Ryzar turns deferrentially towards Reylorna, "Unless you have some magic that would make the search easier, my Lady. Otherwise, we must hurry, while we still have a small bit of daylight left to us."
Ryzar shrugs, looks at his bronze dartgun, then holsters it. "Actually," Ryzar says, in his thickly accented Mannish, "I think we've had this discussion. Witch Reylorna said -- if I remember correctly, my Lady --" Ryzar nods deference at Reylorna, "That, just as the Beast was going into the sleep that she induced, she saw distorted images of what appeared to be outside the fort. Thus, we believe that the Beast is outside, now.
"However, it is now after sunset -- albeit JUST after sunset. As someone who has spent much of his life outside, hunting and tracking both animal and enemy, I can tell you that it will be difficult to locate the Beast by normal methods. We can try -- we must try! But, it will be difficult." Ryzar pauses, to let that sink in.
"We must hurry back down, and go outside the walls, then form a line -- with several paves between each of us -- heading away from the wall. Then, we will all walk around the fort, sweeping the ground before us." Again, Ryzar turns deferrentially towards Reylorna, "Unless you have some magic that would make the search easier, my Lady. Otherwise, we must hurry, while we still have a small bit of daylight left to us."
Dharak looks noticeably startled by this. He fixes his sable eyes on the young warrior with the conical helmet. "So you did bring a tracker, and one with some initiative, at that. Well-met brother, and I agree that we should head out now."
He takes a couple of steps toward the door, still staring curiously at the tracker. "You're not from around here, are you?"
"I am from Lormt." the young Borderer responds, "Near the border with Alizon. However," Ryzar frowns, "I have come to believe that those places are now very far away. Perhaps worlds away..."
"Well, you're not in Lormt anymore, brother man", replies Dharak, "You sure you know what you've gotten yourself into by coming to this messed-up country?" He flicks a glance toward the nearest kandar who isn't looking.
"Certainly," says Jal, with the weight of his wide travels, "I have never heard of any of them." Maybe to older hands, his worldly-wise air seems a little fatuous.
Maybe.
And then again, Jaldaric has studied histories of many of the lands of Kalyr...
Kylar, the legionnaire speaks.
"It seems to me that Jorg and Verthes here were both controlled by this.... creature, and now both of you are freed. I suggest that we first search for any other survivors.
"Reylorna, did you get any idea where or what this creature might be? Did you slay it, or just put it to sleep? If it still lives, we must seek it out, and slay it!".
"Unfortunately my vision was confused by its strange senses", she replies, "I believe it close, yet outside the walls. I also believe it is merely asleep and probably not for long."
"No idea where, or how far?", Kylar asks. "If it's not right outside the walls, it's in the woods somewhere. It could take us days to find it! And we're in deep trouble if it wakes. Look what it did before!".
Dharak tucks a stray black dreadlock, about the thickness of a finger, back into his helmet, and looks hard at the legionnaire.
"What it did before was set a castle full of wizards at each other's throats. Yet it seems that you would prefer to hunker down here, wait for it to try again, and hope that the young sister can whip it again." He shrugs. "That could work, especially with my own modest abilities, and those of others in the group, bolstering hers."
"I would offer that, between Ryzar's tracking skill and mine and Duplar's gift for object reading, we would stand a better chance of finding it tonight than you seem to believe. Those appear to be our only two options." He pauses. "Unless you're proposing retreat, soldier."
"And speaking of soldiers, I must confess that I have yet to decipher anything resembling a chain of command in this intrepid group. But whatever course you choose, I'll do what I can to help."
Reylorna tucks her head slightly clearly admonished by Kylar's words. In a soft voice she offers "it won't be that far from the walls, I was able to see them. Besides my abilities aren't that good."
Turning and addressing the group "we are more of a group than a regiment so we have worked together in making decisions. I offer that we have dailied long enough. We must seek it out now. Shall we?" She raised her arm indicating the door, clearly ready to set out.
Jorg shrugs his massive shoulders. "I don't suppose I'll get any readier."
"Well, I shall, at the very least.", exclaims Dharak as he steps through the door and into the hall, glancing in both directions.
Alert and cautious, the bard is right behind him. "The two searches go together. If there are survivors, it's because they're hidden as well as the beast. If we search the fortress thoroughly, we'll find both."
As Dharak looks around in the corridor, Jal speaks from behind. "We might as well finish cleaing this tower before starting anywhere else," he suggests, "after all, climbing all the way down and then back up would be a bit inefficient."
Jorg flexes his arms several times and begins to follow Jaldaric out the door.
Torn between following one group out the door or completing the tower search, Reylorna elects to finish the tower first. She heads out so that she can go up another floor.
Duplar is also far more curious as to the contents of the tower, and would like to see the view from the top as well.
Ryzar follows the general flow out of this room, and listens to both sides of the argument. Finally, he offers a compromise.
"There is wisdom in searching out other survivors, here in the castle; the more of us there are, the better our chances to defend ourselves. However, there is also the urgency of locating the beast as soon as possible; it could awaken at any moment. Last time we fought it, we did not win -- we only delayed the resolution of the conflict." Ryzar lets that sink in for a moment.
"What I suggest is this; that we all hurry up to the roof of this tower, and from there -- in what little daylight there is left -- we look around for a sight of the beast. Mind you, I do not believe that we will sight it, but we may. Either way, after we have all searched, then Dharak and I -- and any one else who wishes to join us -- shall go down, and out, and search around the walls, and the free-fire zone beyond the walls, in hopes of locating the beast while it still sleeps.
"Those of the rest of us, who stay behind, can then search the remainder of this tower -- starting at the top floor, and working downwards. Hopefully, by the time all of you reach the ground floor, the rest of us will have located and killed the vile Kolderspawn."
Ryzar casts a quick glance towards Reylorna. "Does this plan of action meet with your approval, my Lady?"
Reylorna's reddened at the appliation being offered by Ryzar. She nodded quickly. "I would hope to help search for the beast as well, but I thought we should finish the tower first," she added meekly.
-o0o- It occurs to Jaldaric that, while there are undoubtedly several chambers further up, the spiral staircase leads both up and down.
"Wouldn't hurt to take a look 'round," Dharak offers, starting up the stairs. "Tell you what though, if we do split up, I'd hope that we bring some firepower out with the hunting party." He pauses on the steps and points at the truncheon on Duplar's belt. "If that's what I think it is, then you are more than welcome to join us outside.
He pats his crossbow. "Me, I'm old school, but I'm also no kind of expert with this thing. A sleeping shaggy beast at fifteen yards is about my speed."
"I also think it would make sense for Reylorna to maintain mental contact between the two groups, whichever she chooses to accompany. She seems to be the only one of us with the juice for such a feat."
He turns up the stairs. As he climbs, he looks over at Ryzar quizzically. "What the hell is a Kolder, brother?"
Dharak trudges up the stairs, bypassing any intervening floors, until he reaches the roof.
The chamber above is empty of bodies or anything else. It contains a bed and some spartan furnishings. The next door opens out onto the roof, affording a view across the entire castle, as well as the surrounding area.
From the room, they can see several small buildings down below on the far side of the courtyard they never explored; probably stables and barns.
As before, everything is quiet. No bodies in the courtyard below save those already noticed on the way in.
Kylar breaks the silence, as he addresses the two wizards.
"What's the range of your powers?", he asks them, "If this creature is to be found and killed, it must lie within that range. Unless it has awoken and crawled off".
"Without a sample to work from?", Duplar replies, "Line of sight. With a sample - I don't really know. I can cover the whole of Calbeyn and bit more, but maybe I could go further. I have never tried."
"A sample ..." Dharak trails off, thinking, then addresses Duplar. "The diary mentioned that someone from the castle wounded the thing in physical combat. If we could find that one's weapons, might they carry enough of an impression for you to locate it?"
He places a hand on the parapet and gazes out into the darkening woods.
Reylorna sighed heavily. "Really I have answered this question as best I can. With the additional help from the other wizards my range may have increased. But I think it is someplace between the woods and the castle. My personal range is well beyond that, into the woods. I was using its own power to sense its location and attack, so I can't be too terribly specific. But I don't think I saw trees from its perspective."
"Well, then." Ryzar says, "As we can see no sight of the beast from up here, on the roof, the next step is for some of us to head back down, and go outside to search closer to the castle walls -- where we cannot see, from here." Ryzar heads back to the top of the stairs, and pauses at the door, looking back. "Who's with me?" the young Borderer asks, before heading down the stairs to the great hall, then out, across the courtyard, and through the gateway.
"I am!" growls Jorg as he sets off after Ryzar.
"All right, I'm in," adds Dharak, following the tracker and the giant. "If no one has any objections, perhaps we could rendezvous in the great hall downstairs once we've dispatched the monster? And perhaps Reylorna could set up that mental link with one of us so we could stay in contact ... whether or not decide to join the hunt yourself, sister."
"Sure would like that lightning wand on this little jaunt," he adds, with a pointed glance at Duplar.
[Dharak] He stops at the door, addressing Duplar again. "Oh, and I asked about the weapons that one fellow had wounded the monster with. The diary also seemed to imply that the creature killed him by physical means. Perhaps you could get a sample from the body?"
[Duplar] "An interesting idea and the true answer is I don't know. It may well depend on how much and how fresh it is. If we could find the weapon in question I would be very interested in making the experiment, but I fear our odds on making the experiment are slight.
[Reylorna] "It might be better to stay all together." She follows them.
Jaldaric follows the borderer, without comment; his logic works for him. He is alert and wary.
[Dharak] As the group makes its way to the gatehouse, Dharak takes a moment to reload his crossbow, sling his walking stick, and then proceeds. He walks close to Jaldaric and mutters, "If it's not too much trouble, brother, could you answer one question for me? What in the holy heck is a Kolder?"
A big grin crosses Jaldaric's face.
"Ryzar hails from a _very_ long way away," he explains, "somewhere where humans are in thrall to an alien race, equipped with powerful magic able to control minds and create abominations."
He pauses for a moment.
"He should fit in well here."
"They're called Kolder apparently, and he is very nervous of them everywhere. What is interesting is that apparently in his world, the humans have all but beaten the Kolder...."
"And just what do you imply by that?", Kylar the kandar legionnaire asks.
Jal looks sideways at Kylar. For a moment, there is a definite divergence between his liking and respect for this man and his dislike of the kandar and their hegemony. Then he shrugs.
"Why, the fact that we humans are more than you kandar feel we are," he replies reasonably. "Many of your kin feel we're no more than beasts of burden and breeding stock," for just those two words, his uniquely expressive voice is bitter and icy, "Ryzar's people are perhaps proof that that is not only not so but a dangerous attitude to hold."
-o0o- The assembled company troop through the shattered great hall into the courtyard. As they pass through Jorg sees the scene of destruction for the first time, and in the courtyard they see the fallen bodies of some of his former comrades-in-arms.
Verthes takes his arm. "I was a great shock to me also". He tries to avert his eyes from Jorg's blade, still encrusted with blood.
Jorg becomes even more grim than before. His eyes seem to glow with resolve.
"Well, I don't think our beast is going to be in the courtyard", announces Kylar the legionnaire, "How do we propose searching for the thing? As I see it, we just go blundering about in the undergrowth until someone happens upon it. Anyone got a better plan?".
"Mn-hmn," responds Jal, "we move through the undergrowth in an organized and mutually supported manner until we find it. Then we nail the bastard."
Ryzar draws his wide-bladed short sword.
"We form a line," the young Borderer says, pointing at the nearby castle wall with his sword, "The first of us is a pace or two out from the wall. The next is two or three paces out from him, three paces for the next of us, and so on. We then walk slowly, and carefully around the castle, keeping this interval."
Ryzar looks at the assembled little group, "Who will be our anchor, and walk near the wall?" he asks.
Always the bravest of souls, Reylorna offers "I am willing to be the anchor." She hopes that in this effort she won't be the one discovering the fallen creature.
"Then I shall take the place next to you, Witch Reylorna." Ryzar says, then looks at the others, "Who is next out from the wall?"
"I will stand at the end of the line," says Jorg.
Jaldaric steps into place on Reylorna's other side, and draws his sword with a slight flourish. He looks sideways up at the sky, and comments "Well, at least it's not raining," as a slight relief from the tension.
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