The fire at the centre of the clearing was roaring when Tom awoke from a nightmare of the dark army tearing Harrowden apart. The entire sammargat was gather around it, talking and singing in their ancient tongue. Tom cautiously ventured down in to their midst and soon found Alvis with Vidar, Gunnar, Baldr, Orvar and Tyr. They were drinking a sweet beer-like drink and telling tales of previous adventures.
'Prince Tom!' Baldr exclaimed. 'You join us at a tense moment; Vidar was just explaining why he was caught hanging from the window of Brendak's daughter's room wearing nothing but a pink nightie and a cheeky grin.'
Vidar was looking uncomfortable, while his colleagues appeared highly amused and not a little drunk. Alvis handed Tom a beer and fetched him a stool and soon they were all swapping stories like old friends. It was the small hours of the morning before Alvis and Tom staggered back to the treehouse. Given how drunk they were, they decided to use the basket lift instead of the rope ladder and took it in turns to hoist each other to the balcony, before retiring to their rooms.
'It was a good night. So good, that you'll probably want to take the hodkur before you start eating. I'll be back before noon and we can talk about departing. Alvis.'
Tom immediately popped the leaf parcel in to his mouth and started chewing. It didn't taste very nice, but half an hour later he felt like he could sit up without his head falling off. The bread and meat disappeared fairly rapidly and the cold tea was pretty good. Tom had just finished dressing when Alvis got back, well before noon.
'You are awake and standing. I'll take that as a good sign.' Alvis commented.
'Other than the headache, I feel much better today.' Tom replied. 'Practically back to normal.'
'Then we must make plans to deliver you back to your friends.'
'If they survived.' Tom suddenly felt ashamed of enjoying himself last night when any one of them could be dead.
'Cheer up. Life is for living, not regretting.' Alvis said, seeing his face fall. 'And hope carries us on when we have given up on certainties.'
Tom nodded and tried to get his mood under control, then he told him about the old Jotunn fortress in the mountains. Alvis knew of a place that matched the only description Tom had.
'It is about a day's walk from here.' He said. 'We can gather supplies and be gone by midday.'
With full packs and bellies, Tom, Alvis and the scouts left Juvethil just after noon. The going was tricky for Tom, with the undergrowth pulling at him and tripping him every few yards. The scouts appeared to brush the plants aside and avoid getting tangled.
'How do you do that?' Tom asked, dusting mud from his palms for the third time that hour.
'Do what?' Alvis asked.
'You move through the undergrowth like it's not there.' He said.
'Oh. Part is our birth legacy, we are lighter than heavy-boned humans. Part is skill taught from a young age. Follow after me and watch where I step, then try to copy.'
They started off again with Tom trailing Alvis. He found it difficult to keep track of where he stepping and where Alvis was stepping, but their pace did pick up and he didn't fall again that day. At twilight they pitched camp and ate sitting around a small fire. Tom's sleep was troubled by the same nightmare of Harrowden falling. The morning brought fog with it, turning the forest in to an ethereal wilderness. One of the scouts would regularly climb a tree and adjust the group's course as needed, when they set out again. At one point they came across a massive corpse. Tom recognised it as one of the bear-like creatures. Alvis looked over the scavenger-ravaged thing and declared that it had been killed three days earlier, by a dragon. Tom immediately thought of Shae and it brought a smile to his face. The scouts didn't share his enthusiasm.
'Blasted things.' Baldr said, looking up through the cannopy. 'You never know which side they'll come at you from.'
'Oh, no this was my friend Shae; she's a falnir.' Said Tom.
'You're friends with a falnir?' Alvis was as shocked as the rest of the scouts. 'How has she not turned on you yet?'
'I told her and her family about how you have to stay human most of the time or you go ferral.' Tom replied with a shrug.
'Her family too? That is a great shame. The urge to change is very great.' Alvis said. 'They must be very disciplined not to want to soar above the world.'
'They didn't mention any urges.' Tom ventured. 'I read that to stay civil it's just a case of not changing.'
The scouts were shaking their heads.
'If only it was that simple.' Said Gunnar.
'So what are you saying?' Tom asked.
'Every falnir will eventually fall to the dragon side. I have only ever heard of one who had the will to endure the urges.' Alvis replied.
They went on with more caution, stopping more regularly to climb a tree and look ahead. The mountains loomed over the forest now, and soon they would get to the edge. A couple of hours before noon, Gunnar was scouting the path from the tree tops, when he saw movement. He whistled a complex tune and found a branch to balance on, while he readied his bow. The other scouts quickly scaled the nearby trees apart from Alvis, who ushered Tom behind one of the trunks and drew his sword.
'Two large beasts, a hundred yards away to the North, moving away from us slowly.' Alvis whispered in Tom's ear.
There were a tense few minutes, then Gunnar whistled again.
'All clear.' Alvis said, sheathing his sword.
'What were they?' Tom asked, when the group had come back together.
'They looked like more fenris.' Gunnar replied. 'Alvis, if more stand between us and the fortress we will not be able to get there.'
Alvis nodded.
'Then let us hope they do not.'
They reached the edge of the forest around noon. Alvis had deliberately led them to the East of the fortress so they could scout the open ground properly. What they found was destruction. The fortress still stood, its mighty walls carved from the mountain itself, but the route leading up to the enormous stone gates was awash with corpses. Most were the monsters of the horde, but there were a lot of Jotnar bodies as well. All of them were rended or burnt beyond recognition. As they watched, a large bear-creature came shuffling out of the woods to feed on the carion.
'I do not think your friends are here.' Alvis said to Tom.
'Look!' Orvar pointed over towards the fortress.
Large black wings unfurled above the battlements and a dragon took to the air. It gained height, then whirled around and down in to a stoop, ending on top of the bear-creature. With two swift bites, the animal was dead and the dragon flapped lazily back to the fortress.
'That wasn't Shae, she still has a hole in her right wing.' Tom said. 'That only leaves two possibilities: its an unrelated falnir.'
'Which is unlikely; the ingredients for the spell are incredibly rare.' Alvis interjected.
'Then it must be Lathi.' Tom concluded, flatly. 'Shae's mother.'
'We cannot let her stay here.' Baldr said. 'You know what happens, Alvis.'
'Yes, yes.' Alvis replied. 'But we are not equipped to dispose of her.'
'But this is my friend's mother.' Tom cried. 'You can't just kill her.'
'When she gets hungry, she will start to enlarge her territory.' Alvis explained. 'Juvethil is not far enough away to remain safe.'
'There must be another way.'
Alvis looked over at Tom's determined frown.
'Just how good a mage are you?' He asked.
Vidar broke from the tree line and sprinted directly towards the fortress. He'd reached half way before Lathi emerged and spread her wings once more. Turning like a cat, Vidar bounded back towards the forest, while Lathi gained altitude for her stoop. She swooped down and would have caught Vidar before he reached the safety of the trees, but Tom conjured a magical net at the last moment which enveloped her and brought her crashing to the ground. Lathi thrashed around for a bit and snorted fire, setting some of the trees alight, then appeared to settle and await her captors. Tom stepped out from cover and approached. Fire rolled over his shield, as the dragon noticed him.
'Lathi calm down.' Tom shouted. 'Don't you recognise me?'
The dragon focused on him, seemed to concentrate and then she began to shift back to human form. When Shae's mother was fully changed she collapsed to the ground, Tom released her from the net and quickly brought her a cloak. He noticed that there was a long burn mark from the top of her leg to half way up her side and called for Alvis.
'She needs help.' Tom said. 'She must be in a lot of pain.'
'That may explain it.' Alvis examined the wound and rummaged in his pack. 'She would feel less pain in dragon form, so she may have chosen to stay changed too long.'
Lathi whimpered, her eyes screwed shut, while Alvis applied a salve to the burn. Tom held her still and tried to comfort her, but she passed out from the pain. The scouts headed in to the fortress, searching high and low, but found no sign of anyone but Lathi being inside.
'We'll rest in the fortress for a few hours.' Alvis said. 'Then we must decide on a plan to get you back home.'
'No.' Said Tom. 'I must go to Oesterin and try to forge an alliance with the Queen.'
'I thought you couldn't return or the Queen would put you to death.'
'I'll have to talk her round.'
The scouts headed variously out in to the forest or further up the mountain before nightfall to see if they could find a safe passage to Oesterin. The reports weren't hopeful; there was a trail of destruction leading over the horizon towards the walled city and there were still plenty of monsters in the forest.
'I could teleport there.' Tom said.
'Tricky.' Alvis commented. 'The furthest I have heard one of out sages teleporting was five miles, and he broke his ankle because he was mistaken about how high up he needed to be. Oesterin is more than twenty times that.'
'So I'll make short hops.' Tom shot back.
'Remember the trollmattelse.' Alvis cautioned. 'If you arrive half dead, how will you convince them not to finish the job?'
Tom thought about it, but could see the logic in Alvis' words.
'Then what?' He asked.
'Blasted things.' Baldr said, looking up through the cannopy. 'You never know which side they'll come at you from.'
'Oh, no this was my friend Shae; she's a falnir.' Said Tom.
'You're friends with a falnir?' Alvis was as shocked as the rest of the scouts. 'How has she not turned on you yet?'
'I told her and her family about how you have to stay human most of the time or you go ferral.' Tom replied with a shrug.
'Her family too? That is a great shame. The urge to change is very great.' Alvis said. 'They must be very disciplined not to want to soar above the world.'
'They didn't mention any urges.' Tom ventured. 'I read that to stay civil it's just a case of not changing.'
The scouts were shaking their heads.
'If only it was that simple.' Said Gunnar.
'So what are you saying?' Tom asked.
'Every falnir will eventually fall to the dragon side. I have only ever heard of one who had the will to endure the urges.' Alvis replied.
They went on with more caution, stopping more regularly to climb a tree and look ahead. The mountains loomed over the forest now, and soon they would get to the edge. A couple of hours before noon, Gunnar was scouting the path from the tree tops, when he saw movement. He whistled a complex tune and found a branch to balance on, while he readied his bow. The other scouts quickly scaled the nearby trees apart from Alvis, who ushered Tom behind one of the trunks and drew his sword.
'Two large beasts, a hundred yards away to the North, moving away from us slowly.' Alvis whispered in Tom's ear.
There were a tense few minutes, then Gunnar whistled again.
'All clear.' Alvis said, sheathing his sword.
'What were they?' Tom asked, when the group had come back together.
'They looked like more fenris.' Gunnar replied. 'Alvis, if more stand between us and the fortress we will not be able to get there.'
Alvis nodded.
'Then let us hope they do not.'
They reached the edge of the forest around noon. Alvis had deliberately led them to the East of the fortress so they could scout the open ground properly. What they found was destruction. The fortress still stood, its mighty walls carved from the mountain itself, but the route leading up to the enormous stone gates was awash with corpses. Most were the monsters of the horde, but there were a lot of Jotnar bodies as well. All of them were rended or burnt beyond recognition. As they watched, a large bear-creature came shuffling out of the woods to feed on the carion.
'I do not think your friends are here.' Alvis said to Tom.
'Look!' Orvar pointed over towards the fortress.
Large black wings unfurled above the battlements and a dragon took to the air. It gained height, then whirled around and down in to a stoop, ending on top of the bear-creature. With two swift bites, the animal was dead and the dragon flapped lazily back to the fortress.
'That wasn't Shae, she still has a hole in her right wing.' Tom said. 'That only leaves two possibilities: its an unrelated falnir.'
'Which is unlikely; the ingredients for the spell are incredibly rare.' Alvis interjected.
'Then it must be Lathi.' Tom concluded, flatly. 'Shae's mother.'
'We cannot let her stay here.' Baldr said. 'You know what happens, Alvis.'
'Yes, yes.' Alvis replied. 'But we are not equipped to dispose of her.'
'But this is my friend's mother.' Tom cried. 'You can't just kill her.'
'When she gets hungry, she will start to enlarge her territory.' Alvis explained. 'Juvethil is not far enough away to remain safe.'
'There must be another way.'
Alvis looked over at Tom's determined frown.
'Just how good a mage are you?' He asked.
Vidar broke from the tree line and sprinted directly towards the fortress. He'd reached half way before Lathi emerged and spread her wings once more. Turning like a cat, Vidar bounded back towards the forest, while Lathi gained altitude for her stoop. She swooped down and would have caught Vidar before he reached the safety of the trees, but Tom conjured a magical net at the last moment which enveloped her and brought her crashing to the ground. Lathi thrashed around for a bit and snorted fire, setting some of the trees alight, then appeared to settle and await her captors. Tom stepped out from cover and approached. Fire rolled over his shield, as the dragon noticed him.
'Lathi calm down.' Tom shouted. 'Don't you recognise me?'
The dragon focused on him, seemed to concentrate and then she began to shift back to human form. When Shae's mother was fully changed she collapsed to the ground, Tom released her from the net and quickly brought her a cloak. He noticed that there was a long burn mark from the top of her leg to half way up her side and called for Alvis.
'She needs help.' Tom said. 'She must be in a lot of pain.'
'That may explain it.' Alvis examined the wound and rummaged in his pack. 'She would feel less pain in dragon form, so she may have chosen to stay changed too long.'
Lathi whimpered, her eyes screwed shut, while Alvis applied a salve to the burn. Tom held her still and tried to comfort her, but she passed out from the pain. The scouts headed in to the fortress, searching high and low, but found no sign of anyone but Lathi being inside.
'We'll rest in the fortress for a few hours.' Alvis said. 'Then we must decide on a plan to get you back home.'
'No.' Said Tom. 'I must go to Oesterin and try to forge an alliance with the Queen.'
'I thought you couldn't return or the Queen would put you to death.'
'I'll have to talk her round.'
The scouts headed variously out in to the forest or further up the mountain before nightfall to see if they could find a safe passage to Oesterin. The reports weren't hopeful; there was a trail of destruction leading over the horizon towards the walled city and there were still plenty of monsters in the forest.
'I could teleport there.' Tom said.
'Tricky.' Alvis commented. 'The furthest I have heard one of out sages teleporting was five miles, and he broke his ankle because he was mistaken about how high up he needed to be. Oesterin is more than twenty times that.'
'So I'll make short hops.' Tom shot back.
'Remember the trollmattelse.' Alvis cautioned. 'If you arrive half dead, how will you convince them not to finish the job?'
Tom thought about it, but could see the logic in Alvis' words.
'Then what?' He asked.
Alvis produced a map from his pack.
'This mountain range takes us to within thirty miles of Oesterin.' He pointed. 'Then we can skirt up and around behind the Skelvkild valley and come over the top of the mountains to the palace.'
'How long will that take?' Tom asked, skeptically.
'No more than a day and a half.' Said Alvis. 'We can make it there quicker if you don't mind being carried while sleeping.'
'What?' Tom was taken aback.
'We are capable of carrying you and need little sleep.' Alvis explained. 'Did you not know?'
'I suppose the legends did mention you being strong.' Tom conceded. 'But they didn't record your nocturnal habits.'
'So what do you think?' Asked Alvis.
'If you think it'll work then let's do it.' Tom replied.
'There is just one thing.' Alvis was reluctant to mention the snag. 'We'll be travelling through North Men territory for about five hours.'
'Is that a problem?' Tom didn't know anything about the North Men apart from their hatred of the Jotnar.
'They are wild and barbaric. Five hours is more than enough time to be spotted and chased to ground if we are not careful.'
'Oh.' Tom considered the limited options. 'We don't really have a choice though, do we?'
Alvis shook his head.
'If they haven't already crossed the frostheims, the dark army will soon.'
'What about Lathi?'
'I'll send her back to Juvethil with Vidar and Orvar.' Alvis said. 'Our sages will help her and will be able to contain her if she gives in to the urges.'
Tom nodded.
'Then we have a plan.'
The sun was half way to the horizon when the group broke up, saying their goodbyes and wishing each other luck. Lathi was on a make-shift stretcher and Alvis had given her some herbs to make her sleep painlessly. Baldr led the way up the mountain, followed by Tyr. Tom followed Alvis' footprints again and Gunnar brought up the rear. The forced march was long and uncomfortable. They stayed quite low down the mountains' slope, a few thousand feet above the forest but well below the snow line. Loose shale caught them in a landslide more than once, but they still made good time, carrying on in to the gloom of the night.
The Elves could see reasonably well, even in the dark, but Tom had to fish out his trusty firefly pendant to see where to step. It was almost midnight when Tom slowed to a point that Alvis made him get in to the sling that Tyr carried, holding him in a piggy-back position like a rucksack with arms and legs. Tom didn't manage much sleep, but the rest was enough that he only needed the two hours sleep that the whole group took to be fresh again. As dawn reddened the sky, they started their descent from the range to the small gap of plains before the frostheims. The ascent was steep and the zig-zag path they took was long, but the sun was still low in the sky as they started skirting around the tops of the mountains that made up the North-East wall of the SkelvKild valley.
Not long after the climb, they came across a herd of goats. They were being looked after by a large hairy man, dressed in furs, who bellowed in rage when he saw the group. They drew their weapons and he retreated down the slope.
'What was that?' Tom asked.
'That was a North Man.' Tyr said. 'They all but their own kind.'
'We must hurry.' Alvis said, he will be going for reinforcements.
'Bastards.' Baldr spat.
They ran along the path, and five minutes later Gunnar called from the back to tell the group they were being chased. Tom glanced over his shoulder to see a party of a dozen huge men, at least the size of the Jotnar, carrying various swords and axes and loping along in parallel but lower down the slope from them.
Tom and the scouts upped their pace over the last few miles to safety. The peak at the head of the valley was visible, now and they forged towards it as fast as they could. Tom started to flag, though so Alvis whipped him up over his shoulder and carried on running. The North Men were right on their heels as they crested the shoulder on the mountain and descended in to the SkelvKild valley. They raced down a rough path to where the second tier's walls met the mountain and were about to scramble over when a regiment of Jotnar appeared on the battlements. The scouts and the North Men skidded to a halt, then the Jotnar fired their crossbows.
'I don't know why we don't block that path.' The Queen said to Tom. 'We may as well lay out a welcome mat given how much it's been used in the last few days.'
'Your Majesty.' Tom began. 'First, can I apologise for...'
'Yes, yes, yes.' The queen waved a hand to dismiss his grovelling. 'I'm sure you're going to tell me how sorry you are that you stole from me, and you won't mean a word of it.'
'But your Majesty...'
'No more lying, Prince. I've pardoned you anyway.'
'You've what?'
'We have the book back and according to my cousin, the Duke of Sudjo, you played an integral role in keeping my citizens safe from these monsters. I consider that more apt contrition than fawning at my feet.'
'Thank you, your Majesty.'
'I think, under the circumstances, you can go back to just calling my Greor. Now, who are these men you travel with?'
'They're Elves, your... Greor. They rescued me after the route from Sudjo, and have graciously taken care of me for the last week.'
'Elves? I thought you'd all gone? I do remember a few vague reports of sightings, but I would have hoped you'd still trust your old allies enough to come forward on your return.'
'Queen Greor.' Alvis stepped forward. 'King Freyr sends his greetings and apologises for the secrecy in which we returned to your forests. We were gone for so long that he felt we should watch a while before announcing ourselves once more.'
'Ever cautious. Ok good Elf, you can tell your King that he is most welcome in my realm at any time and that I would very much like to meet him to reaffirm our alliance, given the current situation.'
'How bad is it?' Tyr spoke up.
'The monsters have taken the first level, but they cannot gain weight of numbers to overwhelm the second. If we had infinite supplies we could hold out indefinitely. As it is, we are whittling their force down, but we are on half rations and our food stores will be empty in two day, while they will still have more than enough of their strength sitting on our doorstep.'
'Has any part of it gone through the mountains?' Tom asked.
'We had reports of movement up the pass two nights ago and my advisors estimate that a half of the total number of creatures have moved on.'
'Then we must break their strength here and go to help Harrowden.'
'What makes you think I'm capable or willing to undertake such a foolhardy plan?'
'Well have you got a plan?' Alvis asked.
'The Duke has one, but it involves either losing the second tier of regaining the first. Neither of which I have any enthusiasm for.'
'It's too short a timeframe to get proper help from Juvethil.' Baldr commented. 'We have no standing army.'
The Queen looked wearily like she knew the answer before it came.
'Why don't you evacuate over the mountain?' Tom asked. 'The way we came in.'
'We could.' The Queen admitted. 'But the North Men would harry us all the way, and if we couldn't get to somewhere defensible by nightfall an army would probably be down on us.'
'Then you are stuck or we could try the Duke's plan.' Tom said.
The Queen sighed.
'The Duke wants to use the Skelve to our advantage by damming it, then destroying the dam and letting it wash away the dark army.' She explained. 'We would have to flood all of the second level or most of the first, by his calculations. However, the walls of the first level have holes which need repairing before it would work and the rest of the city is crowded enough without losing another level.'
Tom mulled the situation over.
'I think I have a way past this problem.' He said. 'Would you consider setting up an alliance so I could officially help you and then we could officially go and help Harrowden?'
'Negotiations at a time like this?' The Queen said. 'You certainly know when to press an advantage. Very well, we can be allies if you can save Oesterin without losing another level.'
'There's one more thing, Greor.' Tom said. 'Have any of my friends come through here?'
The sun had only just reached its zenith when Tom strode out of the palace, down to the fifth tier and the Troll's Head. The scouts followed him, though they had already decided to leave once they had grabbed some sleep. Amelia was sat at the bar, drinking a glass of something colourful. When Tom tapped her on the shoulder, she turned, then jumped in fright.
'You git!' She sobbed, pounding his chest with her fists as he embraced her. 'I thought you were... you git!'
Tom shushed her, surprised at her reaction.
'It's ok. I'm here now.'
He held her for a long moment, then straightened up and helped her wipe the tears from her cheeks. Then he kissed her passionately and his relief at seeing her alive and well released in a wave that left him weak at the knees. Wiping away his own tears, Tom turned to the scouts.
'Amelia, these are Elvish warriors. This is Baldr, Gunnar, Tyr and Alvis. They rescued me in the forest and Alvis has been generous in helping me get better. Guys, this is Amelia, I think I mentioned her the other night.'
Amelia looked at them with her mouth open.
'Elves?'
'She's the one who you serenaded from a table top?' Gunnar asked with a grin.
Tom nodded.
'The one who survived for a night in the tower of the Archamge?' Said Tyr.
'Yes.' Tom confirmed.
'The one who wanted you to take her up...' Alvis cuffed Baldr round the back of the head. 'Vinexia?' He finished.
Tom innocently confirmed, while Amelia narrowed her eyes at him, but it was only for a moment, then she gave him a reluctant smile.
'You have to be the luckiest man on the planet.'
'Tell me about it.' He kissed her on the cheek.
'I take it you've seen the Queen.' She said.
'Always a pleasure.' Tom dead-panned.
'Did she tell you about the others?' Amlia asked.
'Yes, they've all gone back to Harrowden, haven't they? Can't say I blame them, and the city needs all the help it can get if it's under attack.'
'There was no news apart from you stumbling off in to the forest.' Amelia said, tears threatening to come again. 'When we heard nothing after a few days, Shae flew them over the mountains. When are we going to leave?'
'I need to help the Jotnar to help Harrowden.' Said Tom.
'How?' She asked.
Tom stood on the battlements of the third tier, and moved his hands just so, saying the words for the teleportation spell. He appeared towards the mouth of the valley, away from the monstrous hordes. He immediately jumped again, ending up out in the open plain. A third teleport landed him at the top of Mount Salamo, just outside the temple. He was in and out again quickly, stuffing the focusing crystal in to his pack. Three more teleports later, he was stood on top of the South-East wall of the valley. Holding the focusing crystal, Tom started the incantation for the levitation spell. The ridge rumbled under him, and a crack started to form about two yards down from the apex.
He concentrated hard, moving his hand perfectly and intoning every syllable perfectly - he didn't want to know what would be unleashed by a mis-spell of this magnitude. Slowly, about two miles of the top of the ridge, broke from the mountains and swung around in the air. Tom flew the rock over to the first tier and dropped it against the damaged outer wall. Repeating the exercise several times, Tom could feel his fingers start to numb, but at last he was finished.
The beasts trapped in the first Tier were scrambling at both walls, while the creatures outside clawed ineffectually and the new wall. By dropping the rocks in the river, Tom had also dammed the Skelve and the water level inside the first tier began to rise. Those creatures that couldn't float drowned while the rest skittered and scuttered out in to the valley.
When the level was high enough, weighted explosives were slid down ramps at to the base of the outside wall. With an almighty bang, the dam was launched several hundred feet in to the air and scattered through the dark army, squashing many beasts to begin with. Then came the water, even the strongest creatures couldn't stand against it, and the hordes were washed down to the mouth of the valley, smashing in to the rocks on the valley floor on the way.
The attack devastated the dark army, leaving less than a quarter of the monsters in the valley alive and many of them injured to some degree. Tom teleported back in to Oesterin and went up to the palace.
'That is my part fulfilled.' He told the queen.
'Indeed.' She went and picked Gunnir off the wall. 'Now it's my turn.'
'This mountain range takes us to within thirty miles of Oesterin.' He pointed. 'Then we can skirt up and around behind the Skelvkild valley and come over the top of the mountains to the palace.'
'How long will that take?' Tom asked, skeptically.
'No more than a day and a half.' Said Alvis. 'We can make it there quicker if you don't mind being carried while sleeping.'
'What?' Tom was taken aback.
'We are capable of carrying you and need little sleep.' Alvis explained. 'Did you not know?'
'I suppose the legends did mention you being strong.' Tom conceded. 'But they didn't record your nocturnal habits.'
'So what do you think?' Asked Alvis.
'If you think it'll work then let's do it.' Tom replied.
'There is just one thing.' Alvis was reluctant to mention the snag. 'We'll be travelling through North Men territory for about five hours.'
'Is that a problem?' Tom didn't know anything about the North Men apart from their hatred of the Jotnar.
'They are wild and barbaric. Five hours is more than enough time to be spotted and chased to ground if we are not careful.'
'Oh.' Tom considered the limited options. 'We don't really have a choice though, do we?'
Alvis shook his head.
'If they haven't already crossed the frostheims, the dark army will soon.'
'What about Lathi?'
'I'll send her back to Juvethil with Vidar and Orvar.' Alvis said. 'Our sages will help her and will be able to contain her if she gives in to the urges.'
Tom nodded.
'Then we have a plan.'
The sun was half way to the horizon when the group broke up, saying their goodbyes and wishing each other luck. Lathi was on a make-shift stretcher and Alvis had given her some herbs to make her sleep painlessly. Baldr led the way up the mountain, followed by Tyr. Tom followed Alvis' footprints again and Gunnar brought up the rear. The forced march was long and uncomfortable. They stayed quite low down the mountains' slope, a few thousand feet above the forest but well below the snow line. Loose shale caught them in a landslide more than once, but they still made good time, carrying on in to the gloom of the night.
The Elves could see reasonably well, even in the dark, but Tom had to fish out his trusty firefly pendant to see where to step. It was almost midnight when Tom slowed to a point that Alvis made him get in to the sling that Tyr carried, holding him in a piggy-back position like a rucksack with arms and legs. Tom didn't manage much sleep, but the rest was enough that he only needed the two hours sleep that the whole group took to be fresh again. As dawn reddened the sky, they started their descent from the range to the small gap of plains before the frostheims. The ascent was steep and the zig-zag path they took was long, but the sun was still low in the sky as they started skirting around the tops of the mountains that made up the North-East wall of the SkelvKild valley.
Not long after the climb, they came across a herd of goats. They were being looked after by a large hairy man, dressed in furs, who bellowed in rage when he saw the group. They drew their weapons and he retreated down the slope.
'What was that?' Tom asked.
'That was a North Man.' Tyr said. 'They all but their own kind.'
'We must hurry.' Alvis said, he will be going for reinforcements.
'Bastards.' Baldr spat.
They ran along the path, and five minutes later Gunnar called from the back to tell the group they were being chased. Tom glanced over his shoulder to see a party of a dozen huge men, at least the size of the Jotnar, carrying various swords and axes and loping along in parallel but lower down the slope from them.
Tom and the scouts upped their pace over the last few miles to safety. The peak at the head of the valley was visible, now and they forged towards it as fast as they could. Tom started to flag, though so Alvis whipped him up over his shoulder and carried on running. The North Men were right on their heels as they crested the shoulder on the mountain and descended in to the SkelvKild valley. They raced down a rough path to where the second tier's walls met the mountain and were about to scramble over when a regiment of Jotnar appeared on the battlements. The scouts and the North Men skidded to a halt, then the Jotnar fired their crossbows.
'I don't know why we don't block that path.' The Queen said to Tom. 'We may as well lay out a welcome mat given how much it's been used in the last few days.'
'Your Majesty.' Tom began. 'First, can I apologise for...'
'Yes, yes, yes.' The queen waved a hand to dismiss his grovelling. 'I'm sure you're going to tell me how sorry you are that you stole from me, and you won't mean a word of it.'
'But your Majesty...'
'No more lying, Prince. I've pardoned you anyway.'
'You've what?'
'We have the book back and according to my cousin, the Duke of Sudjo, you played an integral role in keeping my citizens safe from these monsters. I consider that more apt contrition than fawning at my feet.'
'Thank you, your Majesty.'
'I think, under the circumstances, you can go back to just calling my Greor. Now, who are these men you travel with?'
'They're Elves, your... Greor. They rescued me after the route from Sudjo, and have graciously taken care of me for the last week.'
'Elves? I thought you'd all gone? I do remember a few vague reports of sightings, but I would have hoped you'd still trust your old allies enough to come forward on your return.'
'Queen Greor.' Alvis stepped forward. 'King Freyr sends his greetings and apologises for the secrecy in which we returned to your forests. We were gone for so long that he felt we should watch a while before announcing ourselves once more.'
'Ever cautious. Ok good Elf, you can tell your King that he is most welcome in my realm at any time and that I would very much like to meet him to reaffirm our alliance, given the current situation.'
'How bad is it?' Tyr spoke up.
'The monsters have taken the first level, but they cannot gain weight of numbers to overwhelm the second. If we had infinite supplies we could hold out indefinitely. As it is, we are whittling their force down, but we are on half rations and our food stores will be empty in two day, while they will still have more than enough of their strength sitting on our doorstep.'
'Has any part of it gone through the mountains?' Tom asked.
'We had reports of movement up the pass two nights ago and my advisors estimate that a half of the total number of creatures have moved on.'
'Then we must break their strength here and go to help Harrowden.'
'What makes you think I'm capable or willing to undertake such a foolhardy plan?'
'Well have you got a plan?' Alvis asked.
'The Duke has one, but it involves either losing the second tier of regaining the first. Neither of which I have any enthusiasm for.'
'It's too short a timeframe to get proper help from Juvethil.' Baldr commented. 'We have no standing army.'
The Queen looked wearily like she knew the answer before it came.
'Why don't you evacuate over the mountain?' Tom asked. 'The way we came in.'
'We could.' The Queen admitted. 'But the North Men would harry us all the way, and if we couldn't get to somewhere defensible by nightfall an army would probably be down on us.'
'Then you are stuck or we could try the Duke's plan.' Tom said.
The Queen sighed.
'The Duke wants to use the Skelve to our advantage by damming it, then destroying the dam and letting it wash away the dark army.' She explained. 'We would have to flood all of the second level or most of the first, by his calculations. However, the walls of the first level have holes which need repairing before it would work and the rest of the city is crowded enough without losing another level.'
Tom mulled the situation over.
'I think I have a way past this problem.' He said. 'Would you consider setting up an alliance so I could officially help you and then we could officially go and help Harrowden?'
'Negotiations at a time like this?' The Queen said. 'You certainly know when to press an advantage. Very well, we can be allies if you can save Oesterin without losing another level.'
'There's one more thing, Greor.' Tom said. 'Have any of my friends come through here?'
The sun had only just reached its zenith when Tom strode out of the palace, down to the fifth tier and the Troll's Head. The scouts followed him, though they had already decided to leave once they had grabbed some sleep. Amelia was sat at the bar, drinking a glass of something colourful. When Tom tapped her on the shoulder, she turned, then jumped in fright.
'You git!' She sobbed, pounding his chest with her fists as he embraced her. 'I thought you were... you git!'
Tom shushed her, surprised at her reaction.
'It's ok. I'm here now.'
He held her for a long moment, then straightened up and helped her wipe the tears from her cheeks. Then he kissed her passionately and his relief at seeing her alive and well released in a wave that left him weak at the knees. Wiping away his own tears, Tom turned to the scouts.
'Amelia, these are Elvish warriors. This is Baldr, Gunnar, Tyr and Alvis. They rescued me in the forest and Alvis has been generous in helping me get better. Guys, this is Amelia, I think I mentioned her the other night.'
Amelia looked at them with her mouth open.
'Elves?'
'She's the one who you serenaded from a table top?' Gunnar asked with a grin.
Tom nodded.
'The one who survived for a night in the tower of the Archamge?' Said Tyr.
'Yes.' Tom confirmed.
'The one who wanted you to take her up...' Alvis cuffed Baldr round the back of the head. 'Vinexia?' He finished.
Tom innocently confirmed, while Amelia narrowed her eyes at him, but it was only for a moment, then she gave him a reluctant smile.
'You have to be the luckiest man on the planet.'
'Tell me about it.' He kissed her on the cheek.
'I take it you've seen the Queen.' She said.
'Always a pleasure.' Tom dead-panned.
'Did she tell you about the others?' Amlia asked.
'Yes, they've all gone back to Harrowden, haven't they? Can't say I blame them, and the city needs all the help it can get if it's under attack.'
'There was no news apart from you stumbling off in to the forest.' Amelia said, tears threatening to come again. 'When we heard nothing after a few days, Shae flew them over the mountains. When are we going to leave?'
'I need to help the Jotnar to help Harrowden.' Said Tom.
'How?' She asked.
Tom stood on the battlements of the third tier, and moved his hands just so, saying the words for the teleportation spell. He appeared towards the mouth of the valley, away from the monstrous hordes. He immediately jumped again, ending up out in the open plain. A third teleport landed him at the top of Mount Salamo, just outside the temple. He was in and out again quickly, stuffing the focusing crystal in to his pack. Three more teleports later, he was stood on top of the South-East wall of the valley. Holding the focusing crystal, Tom started the incantation for the levitation spell. The ridge rumbled under him, and a crack started to form about two yards down from the apex.
He concentrated hard, moving his hand perfectly and intoning every syllable perfectly - he didn't want to know what would be unleashed by a mis-spell of this magnitude. Slowly, about two miles of the top of the ridge, broke from the mountains and swung around in the air. Tom flew the rock over to the first tier and dropped it against the damaged outer wall. Repeating the exercise several times, Tom could feel his fingers start to numb, but at last he was finished.
The beasts trapped in the first Tier were scrambling at both walls, while the creatures outside clawed ineffectually and the new wall. By dropping the rocks in the river, Tom had also dammed the Skelve and the water level inside the first tier began to rise. Those creatures that couldn't float drowned while the rest skittered and scuttered out in to the valley.
When the level was high enough, weighted explosives were slid down ramps at to the base of the outside wall. With an almighty bang, the dam was launched several hundred feet in to the air and scattered through the dark army, squashing many beasts to begin with. Then came the water, even the strongest creatures couldn't stand against it, and the hordes were washed down to the mouth of the valley, smashing in to the rocks on the valley floor on the way.
The attack devastated the dark army, leaving less than a quarter of the monsters in the valley alive and many of them injured to some degree. Tom teleported back in to Oesterin and went up to the palace.
'That is my part fulfilled.' He told the queen.
'Indeed.' She went and picked Gunnir off the wall. 'Now it's my turn.'
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