'Well.' Amelia broke the silence. 'Shall we go on?'
'Ummm.' Said Tom.
'None of the refugees ever mentioned this.' Shae was confused. 'What are they doing?'
'Does it matter?' Amelia replied. 'They're occupied. I say we go on to the dark tower, find Isabelle and Lathi and get the hell out of here.'
'This doesn't look good.' Tom said. 'We need to find out what's going on as well.'
Amelia rolled her eyes as the group set off down the slope to the blasted countryside beyond.
'What're you going to do? Ask them?'
Deciding that discretion was the best policy at the moment, they skirted well wide of the congregations, keeping as low as possible and navigating by the columns of flame. It was slow progress, but they remained undetected through the day.
'Are we going to camp again, or try to get in to one of the settlements?' Kale asked as the afternoon wore on.
Theoretically the people are loyal to the Archmage.' Tom said. 'But I've heard rumours of resistance cells. Plus people do still travel around, even here. So long as we don't seem of interest to the Archamge we'll probably be safe. Safer than out here anyway.'
The nearest town was a five mile walk and they reached it just as the light was beginning to drop out of the occluded sky.
'Who goes there?' As the party approached, a voice floated down from above the gate.
'Travellers.' Amelia called back.
'Just you three?'
'That's right.'
There was a rumbling of heavy chains and the gate began to lift off of the ground, admitting Kael, Shae, Amelia and Tom in Kael's invisibility cloak.
'Where is there to spend the night?' Amelia asked one of the guards on the other side.
The drawn figure pointed up the road to the town square.
'Busted Trumpet on your left.' He said.
Amelia thanked him and the party walked on. The Busted Trumpet was a long half-timbered building that looked as though it had sunk in to the mud slightly on one side. The rusty sign depicted a Trombone instead of a trumpet, and there was a surprisingly jolly noise coming from inside. The noise subsided slightly when the group went in, but was soon back to full volume.
'We need rooms for the night.' Shae said to the barman. He nodded.
'For four?'
'No three.'
'What about your friend there, in a cloak of darkness?' The barman pointed directly at Tom.
'How can you see him?' Kael was incredulous.
'Well magic's second nature here, you get used to seeing the shade where something almost is. You look for the slight difference in the way the light travels through the air. It even gets so you can feel the presence of an extra person in the room.' Explained the barman. 'Plus he's trodden a load of mud in with him.'
Tom looked down; there were indeed an extra set of fresh muddy footprints ending where he stood. He swore under his breath, but reasoned that a mysterious stranger being reported was better than letting the Archmage know that he was roaming around the place.
'Erm yes, four, please.' Shae back-peddled.
'Right then: follow me.' The barman led them up the stairs to two double rooms.
'I couldn't cover in front of the patrons, they'd seen your companion come in with you too. However, I'm not too fond of the Archmage myself so if you need anything, let me know.' He explained as he handed out the keys.
'Thanks.' Amelia said, guardedly.
'Do you think we can trust him?' Tom wondered. The group had piled in to one room to discuss their plans.
'It's too much of a gamble.' Amelia said. 'And even if he is trustworthy, some of the customers won't be. I don't think we should even stay here tonight.'
'Will it be safer than spending a night in the wild?' Kael asked. 'That's the question.'
'It's a risk either way. I think we should stay, but only in one room and keep a lookout.' said Shae.
They all looked at Tom.
'I think Shae's idea will work, and that way we get to sleep on the right side of the battlements.'
At midnight there was a knock on the door. Kael was on duty and opened it to find the barman furtively looking down the hallway.
'Some of the town guards are coming to see who you anonymous friend is.' He said. 'I should get him out of here while you can.'
'Thanks.' Kael shut the door and woke Tom.
'The barman says there are guards on their way to see who you are.' Kael told him. 'We need to get out of here.'
They opened the window and watched as four guardsmen trooped in to the tavern. Then Tom levitated down, while Kale, Shae and Amelia made use of their grappling lines. They made their way through the streets towards the gate using the dark alleys as cover. Unfortunately, there were more guards on duty than when they'd come in and the area in front of the gate was well lit.
'What now?' Amelia whispered to Tom.
'Come with me.' A voice came out of the darkness further up the alley.
On the basis that the voice could have just as easily alerted the authorities to their presence, the group followed the patch of darker shadow as the stranger took them around the extremities of the town.
'Who are you?' Whispered Shae to the figure.
'Not important. The barman sent me to look after you.' The figure got to a door and knocked in a complicated rhythm.
The door opened silently and the party was motioned inside. Only when the door was closed again did any lights come on. The room was furnished with a rough wooden table on which sat an oil lantern. The walls held paintings of severe looking men and women, sitting for their portraits and an old curved sword. One end of the rom was dominated by a dark fireplace. The figure who had guided them was a tall, lithe woman in trousers and a tightly buttoned frock coat. Her short blonde hair was tousled, sticking out at odd angles and framing her lean face. The other, who had opened the door, was a stout man with a scraggly beard and receding white hair down to his shoulders.
'Who's this?' The man demanded of the woman.
'Jonah asked me to look after them.' She explained. 'We haven't been formerly introduced.'
The couple looked at the group.
'I'm Tom.' He felt that someone should start to build some bridges. 'Thanks for taking us in. This is Amelia, Shae and Kael.'
'I'm Olivia.' The woman said. 'This is my husband Richard. Now why are the guards after you?'
Tom explained the situation as best he could, keeping his magical prowess to himself.
'A thief and two mercenaries may have a chance of getting in, but you'll almost certainly be caught, your majesty.' Olivia said at the end. 'Why not wait here while they go to the Magehold and look for your friend?'
'I am not entirely useless.' Tom said. 'Besides, I couldn't ask my companions to do what I would not.'
'As you wish. There are some routes which may keep you safer than others when approaching the Magehold. I'll get the maps.'
Moments later, Olivia was back holding several pieces of cloth.
'This is the area around Risoli, where we are now.' She told them. 'This is the area around the Magehold and this is what we know of the inside of the tower.'
The maps had been meticulously detailed to scale and had notes and routes marked on them. Tom thanked her and gather the maps up.
'We should get some rest. 'He said.
'You can sleep in the cellar, there's a passageway to the outside should you need to escape.' Olivia said.
'Give me a hand.' Richard said to Kael, and together they moved the table to one side. Underneath was a trap door and beneath that a set of stairs marched away down in to the darkness. Olivia lit another lantern and handed it to Amelia, who started down the steps. Tom and the others followed, including Olivia, while Richard stayed to keep watch.
'The wall moves in the corner there.' Olivia pointed when they'd gathered at the foot of the stairs. 'It leads up in to a thicket of bushes on the other side of the wall. I suggest you use it in the morning.'
'One more thing.' She said as she took the first step up. 'The fire-idols are a new thing that just started this month. We don't know where they come from, but they appear at random and attract the monsters, keep your eyes open. Good luck and goodbye.'
She left them as abruptly as she had introduced herself.
'What an odd couple.' Amelia said, after the trapdoor had closed again.
'Odd, but helpful. Fire idols?' Tom mused over the term, then shook himself from the daydream, spreading the maps out on the floor and tracing his finger along the route they needed to take. 'It's quite far, but we should make it by tomorrow afternoon.'
In the morning, the party made their way down the passage behind the sliding wall and emerged in to brambles which grew up the stone walls of Risoli. Kael pushed his way through and the others followed in his wake. The dull grey light spoke of pre-dawn and sucked the colour from the already bleak landscape.
'This place is bizarre.' Tom noted. 'It's a wonder anyone lives here at all.'
'I suppose it's live in your fortress or die on your way to freedom.' Shae commented.
Not long after they had got under way, there was an odd wooshing noise along their path.
'It must be a fire-idol.' Tom said. 'Get off the track!'
They piled in to a ditch just as the column of fire ignited, shooting hundreds of feet in to the sky. The column was span as it rose, Tom thought it looked like a tornado. They crawled away from it along the ditch. Shortly after the fire-idol started, the party could here howls and cries of the beasts as the converged on it. Underneath the monstrous noises was a susurrus that teetered on the edge of hearing. The party got five hundred yards from the fire-idol and the noises had quietened sufficiently for Kael to risk sticking his head up over the edge of the ditch.
'We're ok.' He said, scanning the area. 'Nothing's looking in this direction.'
They scrambled back on to the path and made it another few hundred yards before a large bear-like creature leapt from a rocky outcropping, landing in front of them with a growl.
'Bugger.' Amelia sighed.
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