Keep on the Borderlands

16

They made it to level ground without incident, but as Jerdren turned to lead the way east, lightning flared, turning the forest blue-white, and a nearby tree exploded. Thunder shattered the air. Jerdren staggered to his feet, but his legs gave way. He looked dazed, and blood trickled from his nose.

“Back!” Blorys shouted above the din of sudden wind, drenching rain, and more thunder. “We could all die out here! Back to that cavern!”

Thunder roared, drowning his words.

“No!” M’Baddah blocked the way. “We would never make it, not in this weather!” He pointed. “This way—against the cliff! Perhaps we can find an overhang! Everybody move—now!”

Eddis helped Blorys get Jerdren moving, letting Flerys carry her bow. Another brilliant flare of lightning and a loud crack! M’Baddah jumped back just in time to avoid a huge branch that crashed down from high above, then leaped over it and kept going.

There was no overhang, only more trees, and the lightning had intensified as they fled, thunder deafening and non-stop. Wind drove the rain sideways, lashing their faces and hands, soaking everything.

M’Baddah waved his arms and pointed as they came into the open. Just ahead, a vast, dark opening loomed. Eddis caught up to him, and her nose wrinkled.

“Gods, M’Baddah! I never smelled anything so horrid!” She had to yell to be heard.

“You want to look for another shelter, woman?” Jerdren yelled back.

Lightning stabbed into the trees a short distance away. Flame and smoke licked greedily up the branches but was doused by the rain.

“Or you want to die out here? Come on, we won’t go in very far!”

“You got that part right!” Eddis screamed and ripped her sword from the sheath as she stepped into darkness. Flerys hesitated, then dove after the woman as thunder cracked across the sky. The rest followed hastily.

They huddled together as near the entrance as they dared.

“Keep watch,” Jerdren ordered. “Every last one of us, both out there and behind us. And we’ll stay close together, if no one minds.”

“What are you watching for?” Eddis snarled at him. “Anything in here is dead. Very, very dead.”

“Who knows? Whatever killed what you’re smelling?”

The storm raged on. Bushes bent to the ground under the intense downpour and more branches came crashing down. Lightning was everywhere and though the storm seemed to be gradually moving away, each time Jerdren started to get up, another strike hit close by.

“I swear,” he mumbled, “the filthy storm is trying to keep us here!”

“None of that,” M’Baddah said sharply, before Eddis could reply.

Flerys hunkered down between M’Baddah and Eddis, her face buried in the outlander’s cloak. She started violently whenever thunder cracked nearby. Kadymus alone seemed unfazed. He was wandering around, straying farther from the others by the moment.

“Wretched little dungeon-bird, you stay put!” Eddis ordered him, but the thief shook his head. “Don’t disturb anything in here!” she added sharply.

“You said it yourself, Eddis,” he replied with the smile that so annoyed her. “Everything in here’s long dead. But, you know, with such a mess all around, there’s just got to be something valuable hidden!”

He’d search for golden eggs in a pile of chicken droppings, Eddis thought. “Listen to me, you light-fingered little man. You come away from this cave reeking of dead things and you will sleep in the road. Because you will not have a place around the fire tonight!”

Kadymus held out his hands and laughed. “I won’t touch anything dead, all right? But it can’t hurt to look, can it?”

“If it’s you that’s looking, it just might—” Eddis said, then shrugged and fell silent.

Jerdren shook his head. “Blor, keep an eye on him. Kadymus, you stay where we can see you. You should know by now that any cave in this place can hold just about anything. And I’m not talking about treasure.”

“If there is treasure—” the thief grinned—“I’m the one to find it. C’mon, Blor. You hold the lamp for me, and I’ll share evens with you.”

“You’ll share evens with all of us, you little rat,” Eddis growled, but she doubted he’d heard her. He was already wandering around, peering into the gloom while Blor got out flint and tinder and lit the stub of candle in his lantern. “Keep him quiet and close, will you, my friend?” she asked quietly as Blorys looked down at her on his way back into the reeking cavern. “This place is—I don’t know! I just feel like something’s back there in the dark, watching us.”

“I know what you mean, Eddis.” He smiled. “Though, if you ask me, something killed whatever lived here and left. The place feels deserted.” He looked around in alarm as Mead got to his feet. “What?”

The elf shook his head. “Do not alarm any of our wounded, please. I just wish to test the place. There is no life in this chamber, but…” His voice trailed off, and Eddis could hear him mumbling under his breath. “I cannot detect anything close by,” he said finally, and he sounded frustrated. “But I feel something wrong.”

“Oh. Great,” Eddis muttered. She came halfway around and onto her feet, sword and dagger out, as Kadymus’ low mumbling suddenly stopped.

“Hey!” he announced. “There’s an odd thing over here!” And as Blorys came up with the lamp. “Oh, sorry. Guess it’s just a puddle, but it looked strange, like it was moving, and I—” He yelped. “Gods above, it’s coming at me! Look out!”

Eddis threw herself to her feet, sword in hand as Blorys caught the thief by his collar and yanked him back. Candlelight shone on something pearly, gray, and snakelike. It reared from the cave floor to snap at Eddis, who threw herself to one side. The thing followed, and Blor hauled out his sword to slash at the thing.

Mead’s voice echoed. “Get away from it!”

Blorys stared. “My sword! What’s it done to my sword?”

The blade was smoking, dissolving. Molten metal splattered to the cavern floor, and he threw the hilt with an oath as it began to steam. Eddis tugged at his arm.

“Get away from it!” the mage yelled again. “It is gray ooze, and it eats anything metal!”

Kadymus shrieked and pelted back across the chamber, stopping only when he reached the mouth of the cave. The ooze puddled on the bone-littered floor, but it was already beginning to form itself for another strike. Eddis hauled Blorys around with all the strength in her, and they ran.

“Eats… metal!” Blorys sounded as stunned as he looked. He rounded on Kadymus. “That was my best sword! I’ve had it since before I went in the army! You filthy, wretched, light-fingered, little—!”

“Be grateful you still have your armor,” Mead said sharply as the man paused for words. “And the metal buckle of the belt that holds up your pants. Jerdren,” he added, “it seems to me that the storm is moving on. So, unless you know how to stop gray ooze, we had better get out of here. That thing knows we are here, and I have nothing that will even slow it!”

“Out,” Jerdren ordered sharply. “Everyone, out—now!”

It was still raining heavily, and the wind blew hard, tearing small branches free to pelt down on the company as it wrapped sodden cloaks around their legs. But the storm was as short-lived as it was fierce. By the time they reached the road, the rain had turned to a thin drizzle, and the sky overhead was a deep blue.

It took time to get a fire going, since all their wood was soaked. The company devoured the bland mess their provisioner cooked up for them, then spent the remaining daylight hours tending to minor wounds, drying cloaks and blankets. One of the Keep men brewed hot mulled wine.

“Wonder where our big, bad hero wound up,” Eddis remarked sourly as she sipped the spicy, steaming liquid. “One muscle-bound brute and a handful of weakened monsters taking on an orc den? He must be mad.”

Jerdren shrugged. “Really? He impressed me. Think how long those bugbears held him, and somehow he kept himself fit and fed, ready to fight his way out if he got the chance.”

“I hope he will work off his rage against his captors, if he comes here,” M’Baddah said. “But against so many orcs—”

“Wasn’t so many as all that.” Hebold’s voice boomed out.

Eddis snarled a wordless curse as the man strode into the firelight.

“Lost most of my allies, worse luck, but I did all right myself. Just look here!”

He hauled a length of rope from his belt. Eddis peered at his hand, realized what she was looking at, and thrust Flerys behind her. Severed orc hands were strung on the rope.

The “hero” grinned at her proudly, then looked at Jerdren, his chest expanding.

“Jerdren, isn’t it?” Hebold asked. “Thought you might be camped hereabouts—this was the safest spot we found, anyway.” He brandished his trophy. “Proof of my kills.”

Eddis glared at him, her eyes narrow slits. “Get that mess out of this camp. Now!”

He stared at her blankly.

Eddis freed up a dagger and bared her teeth. “Far, far out of camp! Or you can take yourself back to that bugbear cell and lock yourself in, for all of me, but you won’t stay here!”

He took a step forward and scowled. Eddis held her ground, jaw set, and freed up another dagger.

“Woman,” he snarled, “where I come from, your kind tend fires, provide pleasure, and nurse babes.”

“Go back there, then,” Eddis overrode him. “In this company, Jerdren and I are equals. Captains. If you’re thinking of fighting with us, or even staying here the night, you’d better remember that.”

Hebold gazed down at her for a long, utterly still moment, then turned and strode from camp.

“Nice going, Eddis,” her co-captain said mildly. “He’s big and tough, a good fighter, and he knows more about these caves than we do. And you’ve alienated him.”

Blorys caught hold of her shoulders. “Are you mad, woman? He’s big enough to break you in half!”

“He won’t, Blor. Don’t you know? The gods protect the mad,” Eddis replied.

Blorys laughed quietly. Jerdren shook his head and went off after Hebold.

She sighed faintly. “I’m just glad we got all that silver out of sight before he showed up. I don’t trust him.”

She looked up as Jerdren laughed aloud He and the big man were standing together at the edge of the clearing, talking quietly. Trading exploits, no doubt. So long as they don’t trade stories where I have to listen to them, she thought. Or Flerys. She turned to look for the child and found her waiting quietly.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” she said. “I didn’t want you to see what he had.”

“Didn’t hurt,” Flerys replied. “I saw, but bandits took hands sometimes.” She shrugged. “Is just hands, not anything messy.” She shivered into her cloak as a cool breeze sprang up and went back to the fire.

Eddis glanced at Blorys. “Gods. That poor child. You think regular guard’ll be enough to keep an eye on that Hebold tonight—if he stays?”

“Oh, he’ll stay, all right,” Blorys said glumly. “But Jers’ll probably be up half the night, trading war stories with him.”

Near dawn Eddis was wakened by men shouting and a dash of weapons. She snatched up her sword, but Jerdren and two of the Keep spearmen were already on their way back to the fire. Jerdren grinned and wiped his bloody sword.

“Orcs,” he said as Eddis looked at him. “We killed three, and Hebold went after the last two.”

“Great,” she muttered and tugged the cloak around her shoulders. “They’ve found us.”

“If they were a scouting party, there won’t be any of ’em left to report what they found,” Jerdren replied. “It’s early, Eddis. Go back to sleep.”

When she woke again, it was full day. We’re waiting for the men from the Keep, she remembered. No fighting today—unless more orcs or other things come looking for us. Just as well, she thought as she sat up. Everything ached at the moment.

Jerdren had posted guards. She could see a spearman out there, pacing the road. A few others sat together talking quietly and honing their blades, and Flerys was getting another archery lesson from M’Baddah.

Across the firepit from where she lay, Jerdren and Blorys had Zebos’ map out. Hebold was looking over their shoulders.

“First place we went was there. Rumor had it the worst and toughest creatures were as far from the road as they could be, and that seemed a likely start. Turned out to be gnolls. Handful of coins, no gems that we found, and a pack of cowardly dog-monsters aren’t worth fighting.” He shrugged. “Next place we went was that hobgoblin lair, worse luck. Couple of my men were full of ’emselves for killing off gnolls, got too loud, and drew down an ambush on us. Lousy hobgoblins must’ve been lurking while we went in for the prisoners. They were waiting just short of the door when we came back.”

“Heard about that,” Jerdren said. “Still a bunch of ’em left, if you want to finish ’em off.” It wasn’t quite a question.

Hebold grinned. “May not have to bother. That hobgoblin—the one I shared a cage with, I told ’im the bugbear lair’s empty, and that their chief kept his treasure in chests, lots of ’em in the secret passage behind his bedroom. Fool creature believed me, too. That minotaur’ll do for ’em.”

“Could work.” Jerdren grinned.

“So—” Hebold stretched long and hard. “You find much trove so far?”

“Oh, you know. Few coins here and a few there. We sent most of it back to the Keep, of course.”

“Sounds foolish.” Hebold squatted on his heels next to the fire.

“Some fools we’d be if we buried it here and came back to find it gone.” Jerdren turned back to the map. “So… you’ve emptied that cave, and that one’s where the orcs were. And the small one here. Bugbears—here. Gnolls are gone, or as good as, and so’re the orcs, and your goblins are done for. We wiped out the kobolds, first day. What’s it leave us, then?”

The big man shook his head. “Didn’t get much chance to look around. Still… while back, late one night, I was trying to sleep, and I could hear one of the bugbears challenging someone. Then he backed away, and all of ’em looked flatout scared. Here comes this—figure. Black hood, cloak the color of dried blood. Never saw its face, but its voice gave me an unpleasant feeling. Said something in Common about sacrifices. Went to the other cage, looked in and said, ‘That one and that.’ Bugbears dragged out two of my men and hauled ’em up the stairs, and that hooded thing went off behind ’em.”

“A priest,” Panev murmured. He had come up quietly behind Eddis. “A black hood and red cloak, you’re sure of that, man?”

Hebold nodded.

“The curate may be right after all. He has heard rumor these past years—disquieting tales of men and women who travel along this road from the east, but they do not seek the Keep. He questioned the man Zebos, who said he had seen strangers who passed through his town, and all of them wore dark red cloaks. They did no business with the local merchants, he said, and never spoke to any but their own kind. The curate asked that I serve as priest in this company, rather than either of his acolytes, because he fears the red-cloaked ones to be part of a cult of the undead.”

“Undead?” Jerdren asked. “Why didn’t we hear of this before now?”

“Because it seemed unlikely to us that such a temple would be here—so far from any town. But if this man has seen the priest he describes, then I believe the temple must be nearby. Of the priests in the Keep, only the curate and I can turn powerful undead.”

“Turn?” Blorys asked. He looked bewildered.

“You cannot stab a skeleton to the heart—it has none. I have spells to force them away from me. From us. Or to unmake them.”

“Great,” Jerdren muttered. “So, where’s this temple? Every cave opening on this map of Zebos’, we’ve marked. We know what’s there—or was.”

Hebold studied the map closely, holding it nearly to his nose. “No. There’s one missing. Should be just… here.” He pointed. “When we went after the gnolls, we could see it. Another cave, a little lower down the slope and nearer the center of the ravine.”

“Undead,” Jerdren said. He thought, finally looked at Eddis. “We need to talk.”

“Yes,” Panev said. “And each member of this company must decide whether to continue to fight. Such a temple will be a place of great evil.”

In the end, the entire company—including Flerys, who was startled to be given a vote—chose to go.

Kadymus grinned widely. “A temple! Think what treasure we’ll find!”

“No!” Panev shook his head fiercely. “In such a place, you touch things at your peril. I will instruct you before we go into battle.”

The party from the Keep arrived early the next afternoon. Eddis was beginning to feel nervy. Every weapon she owned was freshly edged, and there was nothing left to do but wait.

M’Baddah, Willow, and Mead had gone up the ravine that morning, to see if they could locate the cave Hebold claimed to have seen. They’d found it, but hadn’t dared go too close. Mead’s reveal spell showed danger and great evil, but he couldn’t tell anything more specific than that. They had also seen twenty or more dead hobgoblins near the foot of the cliff near the bugbears’ cave but had no explanation for what had killed them.

The Keep guards brought food and a hide full of new arrows and quarrels, spears and daggers—and a parcel and message for the priest.

Panev read the message and drew Eddis and Jerdren aside. “The curate tells me that visiting priest and his two acolytes have been arrested. A search of their rooms revealed evidence that they are not the holy men they pretend to be but servants of a secret, evil brotherhood. They also found a map that shows these caves. The curate sends his blessings to the company and all the potions and wands he could gather. I see Hieroneous’ hand in this.” He smiled. “Things will go well, if we are all well prepared.” He walked off, deep in thought.

“Always do, don’t they?” Jerdren asked of no one and went over to talk to Hebold.

Eddis gazed after him, then went in search of Blorys. Jers had been acting odd—like his old, wild self—ever since Hebold first showed up. Blorys might not be able to do anything with him either, but he’d stand a better chance.

Eddis took third watch with M’Baddah and one of the spearmen. It was very dark and cold, and utterly silent except for someone snoring near the fire, and the occasional shifting of the picketed horses. The hour over, she woke Jerdren and lay down close to the fire.

A man’s yell of pain and the screams of terrified horses had her on her feet scant moments later. There was chaos all around the fire, as men ran to protect the horses, and others headed toward the dash of weaponry, far enough into the trees that it was hard to tell who was fighting whom—or what.

“Lights!” Eddis shouted. “You and you, let’s get some lights out there, or we’ll wind up killing each other!”

The battle had moved to the road by the time she and Blorys came running, each carrying a lantern and drawn sword. Three men were down, one wailing in agony. Beyond them, five heavily armed hobgoblins fought furiously. Jerdren and Hebold were battling side by side, finishing off one fallen brute, but the others seemed unharmed as yet.

The unexpected light distracted one of them. M’Baddah and his son charged it, M’Whan lunging as his father swung the curved blade, two-handed. Blood ran down the creature’s face, blinding it, but as M’Baddah brought the blade around again, it caught him by the forearm and yanked, dragging the outlander onto his blade. The outlander shouted in sudden pain, the outcry drowned by M’Whan’s, “Father!”

The youth stabbed, again and again. Eddis handed the lantern to one of the bleeding men stumbling back from the fray and ran to help. Blorys came hard on her heels, and as Eddis jabbed at the brute, Blor shoved the lantern at its face. Momentarily blinded, it snarled and slapped the thing aside. Blor staggered but managed to stay on his feet. Eddis was behind it, then, out of its reach and safely away from M’Whan’s flailing sword.

No room to swing the sword, without cutting one of their own, she thought, and lunged, plunging the point into the unprotected back of the hobgoblin’s knee. It bellowed in rage and pain, dropped M’Baddah, and swung around to face her, but M’Whan and Blorys attacked now, cutting it badly. It was swaying as it turned from her to face this new threat, and it went down. Eddis brought her sword down hard across the back of its neck, again and again until it no longer moved.

She fell back, winded. Two more hobgoblins had fallen since she had sprung to the attack, but more men littered the road, and she could still hear the high-pitched, shrill cry of a terrified horse, back in the camp.

M’Whan knelt to help his father, and Eddis came around to steady the man as the youth got him on his feet.

“How bad?” she asked. Her lieutenant’s face was ashen.

“My arm—above the wrist. I think it is broken.” He gripped M’Whan’s shoulder tightly. “Thanks to you three, it is only that.”

“Gods,” Eddis whispered and shook her head to clear it. “M’Whan, get him out of the middle of this. Blor—?”

But Blorys had already moved off to help his brother and two spearmen take down another of the attackers. Eddis ran to aid three of the Keep men who’d ridden out that day. They were backing nervously away from a massive brute who bled from a dozen or more shallow cuts, their spears trailing in the dirt.

“Don’t run!” she shouted. “You’ll give him a better chance to cut you down. Stay there, keep those spears at the ready!”

The creature turned to face her as she ran in, yelling wildly, her sword swinging. Two more cuts—a deep one across the back of its sword hand, another down the side of its face, and the hobgoblin backed away and bounded forward and took a vicious swipe at her head. Eddis’ heels caught on one of the fallen men, and she went down. The brute loomed over her, teeth bared in a horrid grin, sword raised to pin her to the ground. She rolled, coming up onto her knees, staggering to her feet. Furtive movement caught her eye. Kadymus, a thick-bladed dagger in each hand, was sneaking up on the creature, and Flerys came flying out of the dark, spear ready to thrust. The brief distraction cost Eddis, but a quick jump back kept the hobgoblin’s sword from more than scratching her arm.

With a yell of fury, Flerys jabbed her spear at the creature’s back but lost her balance as the point bounced off armor. The little thief brought one dagger down, the other up, burying one blade in the hobgoblin’s sword-arm, the other in its neck.

It bellowed and turned to strike. Eddis’ sword bit deep across the backs of its legs, felling it, and Kadymus leaped to slam two more daggers deep in its neck. It shuddered and went limp. Flerys edged around it and came running, dinging fiercely as the swordswoman stroked her hair. Eddis’ eyes moved, taking in their surroundings. No fighting close by, and the monsters still standing were surrounded.

“Are you all right?” she asked the girl finally.

A sharp nod.

“Sure?”

The thin body trembled against hers. Afraid, Eddis thought, but a moment later, Flerys burst into tears.

“Thought it killed Eddis,” she whispered tearfully. “Don’t want filthy monsters killing Eddis.”

The fighting was over as suddenly as it had begun. The last hobgoblin tried to flee, but Hebold ran after it and cut it down with the double-bladed axe he’d picked up in the dungeons.

Eddis surveyed the damage. Four dead hobgoblins—five now, as spearmen dispatched the last of the wounded. Men seemed to be everywhere, fallen, bloody, moaning. Some weren’t moving.

“What damage?” Eddis asked generally.

Mead looked up from the armsman he was tending. “At least ten wounded. Two horses dead, that I know for certain. Four men dead.”

“And all those filthy hobgoblins,” Hebold announced. He was bloody, filthy, and grinning hugely.

“Good,” Eddis told him. “Why don’t you get a couple of the men to help you drag them away from camp, so the horses can start settling down.”

To her surprise, he did what she asked without comment. M’Baddah—over there, with M’Whan; Blorys moving along the far side of the road. No sign of Jerdren, and she couldn’t recall the last time she’d seen him. Hard to tell who was where, with only two flickering lanterns out here.

“Jers, where are you?” she called out. “Someone get a couple more lanterns out here, and any of you who aren’t hurt, set a guard here, on the camp and on the horses, so we don’t get caught like that again!”

“Here he is!” Blorys called. “I think he’s—no, he’s breathing, and that’s not his blood.”

Eddis made her way past fallen and shocked-looking men, and knelt to feel Jerdren’s throat for pulse. The man groaned faintly.

“Got the wind knocked out of him,” Eddis said.

Another groan, and Jerdren fought his way to sitting, gingerly cradling his head in his hands.

“Gods, what a headache,” he mumbled. “Brute got the spear away from one of the men and cracked me across the skull with it.”

Blorys gripped his shoulder and fetched a quiet sigh of relief.

“What’s the damage?” the older man asked after a moment. Eddis told him. “That’s not so good, is it?”

“It could have been a lot worse,” she assured him. “All those inexperienced Keep men, all those horses, and a surprise attack. Except after last night, we should have been expecting it.”

Jerdren shrugged, then winced and clutched his brow. “Know what, Eddis? I owe you an apology. Think you’re right—they know where we are, all right. Tells me that we take on this final cave, one last battle, and ride away.”

Blorys stared at him. “You’re giving up? That must have been some crack to the head, Brother.”

Jerdren managed a faint grin. “Didn’t say that. Just doesn’t seem sense to sit here and wait for ’em to finish us off a few at a time. There’s no reason why we couldn’t come back later—next spring, say—and finish the job.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Eddis said and got back to her feet.

Someone needs to keep an eye on things here, she thought. With M’Baddah and Jerdren both down, that meant her. “One last battle,” she whispered. Jerdren’s words sounded like an ill omen, all at once.

Cleanup took hours, and it was nearly dawn when Eddis settled down close to the fire and dosed her eyes. Sleep evaded her. Four dead horses, two badly injured, another two simply gone. Most of the dead men were those who’d ridden out from the Keep to bring them supplies. Panev had healed the worst injuries, Mead using potions to close cuts and a spell to soothe and quiet the horses.

Too much blood, she thought wearily. The sight and smell of it sickened her, all at once, and Jerdren’s words still rang in her mind. One last battle. They’d lost so many men already. If this temple was as dire as Panev thought, how many of them would survive?