Chapter 19
Davkas, Princess Lunansa and the other members of their party were getting tired at the pace they hade set for themselves in departing the scene at the top of the last hill. Yet none of them were complaining, all wanting to put some distance between themselves and the sight of the massacre. So they trudged onward down the trail heading towards their destination.
“We should stop soon and rest before it gets too late in the day.” Davkas finally said as he led the group over the trail.
“Yes I agree completely!” Nelas said from the rear of the group. He was red faced and sweating profusely, clearly pushing himself to his limits.
Captain Hammerstone and Sergeant Blackrock both nodded their agreement and the whole group came to an abrupt halt, everyone of them breathing a small sigh of relief. Davkas helped find a suitable spot for the Princess to sit down and rest, while the dwarves all dropped to the ground where they were, not much caring if they had a place to sit or not.
Looking around them Davkas calculated that they were perhaps within a few days marching distance from Castitrona, and returning the Princess to her Father. He would be happy to get home, having been held captive for as long as the dark dwarves had kept him. His thoughts naturally drifted to his daughter, Lissidrinne, or as everyone called her Lizzy. He of course wondered how she was fairing in the world, and what life had brought her, she would no doubt have been worried about him being gone so long.
Princess Lunansa sat on the stump, and soon she was busy rubbing her feet and day dreaming about being home. Of course her thoughts focused on her Father and seeing him again, yet it seemed she couldn’t help thinking about a certain Captain of the Guard. Gharyn Silverstar, he was so handsome and dashing she thought to herself. But she had never confessed her attraction to him, she felt like it would be wrong somehow. She vowed to herself that if they made it back to her home that she would right this wrong and express her true feelings to Gharyn!
Davkas broke off from his own daydreaming and approached the dwarven leaders who were all standing together and discussing something very animatedly! But of course this is very typical of dwarves in general.
“Well I say we need to take the most direct route! The sooner we get the Princess back home safely the better!” Argha Flintrock was shouting to the other dwarves gathered around.
“That’s just fine if’n you want to march right out in the open and all, I still feel the best way is to skirt the edge of the forest and approach the city from the south!” Captain Hammerstone shouted back with equal enthusiasm!
“The captain makes a very valid point.” Davkas said as he walked up to the group.
“Well I understand his concern but I feel that we should take the quickest route, and that is the path we are currently on.” Argha argued back, crossing his arms over his chest as he spoke, taking a defiant stance.
The rest of the dwarves also crossed their arms over their chests and stared back at the old mind mage, so now all of the dwarven leaders stood staring at each other, while Davkas stood in the middle of them all with a perplexed look on his face! Just then Princess Lunansa came up and placed her hand on Captain Hammerstone’s arm gently.
“I think that I should have the last word on this matter. Don’t you think?” Lunansa looked at the dwarves gathered around.
“Surely Princess we would like to hear what you say on this matter. Yet it is your safety that we are arguing for here!” Sergeant Blackrock spoke for the group in favor of taking the long way around.
“Yes I do understand, but I want you all to understand that I would like to get back to my home as quickly as possible. So I am in favor of the shortest, most direct route. If that means we need to travel in cover of darkness then I am open to that too.” The Princess replied to the comment of Sergeant Blackrock as she looked in the eyes of all the dwarves gathered there, she also caught Davkas’s eye and hoped he would argue for her too.
“Well we will go where you would have us to go Princess.” Davkas spoke up after seeing the look in her eye. “We can rest now and take up the march in a little while. Like you said, if we need to we can travel the open areas during the night.”
The majority of the dwarves grumbled slightly at this yet it was not their nature to ignore the wishes of their charge, so they all agreed to take the shortest, most direct path. They broke camp soon and took up their trek again, up and down the hills they marched, well into the evening. Soon they came to a more heavily wooded hillside and came upon another disturbing scene!
At the top of the hill in a nearby clearing were two dead wolves, another dead wolf was found a few feet away at a base of a large tree. There appeared to have been some sort of fight for the ground was roughed up and there were multiple tracks on the ground, humanoid tracks, so the wolves had attacked a group of perhaps three or so people very recently. At least this is what Davkas could piece together. He looked out at the surrounding woods scanning the area for any signs that the wolves had succeeded in their attack. He began to follow a very large set of tracks leading away and soon found a stream, the dwarves and the Princess following in his wake. But the sun was quickly going down and he wasn’t sure in which direction they lead, so he stood up from studying the tracks and for some reason felt a chill down the back of his spine.
Seeing no further signs of individuals in the area the group decided to continue on their way, so into the night they journeyed, keeping hidden in the shadow of the night, hoping to make good time before they became too exhausted to go further. Up and down they went, over hills and through shallow streams, into the night they marched. Sometime after midnight they called a halt and all fell down exhausted and worn, they set up a quick watch schedule and eating just what was in their packs and drinking from their waterskins, they soon went to sleep. Two of the dwarven guards kept first watch, and the only item of note for the night was a disturbing shadow which flew across the light of the three moons.
The party awakened to a perfect day, the clouds were high, and the sun was shining. The group of weary travelers felt refreshed and ready to get back on the trail. So after a quick morning meal, washed down with some fresh water from the nearby stream, they started up again. Davkas again took the lead, being the most familiar with the territory and of course having tracking experience.
“So how much longer do you think it will take for us to arrive at Castitrona?” Princess Lunansa asked Davkas as they were walking along.
“Oh I figure at the rate we are traveling perhaps only a few more days Princess.” Davkas said in reply.
“Ah good, I am weary of this whole ordeal, I will be happy to see my Father again.” Princess Lunansa said back to Davkas and then sighed deeply. Her thoughts drifted towards home again, it seemed like such a long time now that she had been gone!
They were making good time, and the miles were disappearing quickly behind them now. But after awhile the weather started turning, clouds were forming in the sky and before too long it started to rain. The trail was getting difficult to traverse, the Princess having slipped and fallen to the ground now multiple times. Davkas was concerned for her of course and slowed their pace considerably. But the rain seemed to be getting stronger, so he felt it was time to find some shelter so that they could ride out the storm. Argha was thinking the storm seemed a bit unnatural, perhaps magically created. But these thoughts he kept to himself.
Captain Hammerstone was the first to break the silence. “I think we should look for a place to get out of this storm!” He shouted out to the group marching along the trail.
“I agree completely!” Davkas shouted back over his shoulder in response. He motioned to them to stay together while he went ahead of the group to try and find someplace they could find shelter under, like a large copse of trees or perhaps even better, a cave or overhang of some kind.
So Davkas sprinted off ahead, trotting along, scanning the countryside along the trail, looking for anything that might work for shelter. He quickly found a nice thicket of trees close by, but ruled it out since there was a large depression under the trees, which was quickly filling up with water. Then he spotted something odd! High over head he saw three shapes wheeling and swooping in the pouring rain! Some very large shapes which at first made him think of dragons! Yet, squinting at them and focusing his eyes he saw they weren’t dragons at all, but something dark and sinuous!
Quickly running back to the party he ran up and motioned for them all to duck down! Not knowing what was happening, yet trusting in his instincts, they obliged and took cover. Davkas glanced back up to see if he could spot the creatures again, but he didn’t see them. But soon all of them heard a monstrous shrieking!
“What is it Davkas!” Princess Lunansa whimpered from her hiding place under a nearby bush.
“I don’t know Princess, but I’m afraid we are about to find out!” Davkas cried back in response and drew his sword at the same time.
The dwarves knew that sound, they knew that for some reason there were shadow serpents up above, and now they were close by! So as one they drew their weapons, while the old mind mage. Argha, began to close his eyes, all the while they scanned the sky as best they could to try and spot the serpents. But the sounds died off as it seemed the shadow serpents moved away from their hiding place. They all took a collective sigh and began crawling out from underneath the bushes they had been crouching under.
“So what do you think all that was about?” Davkas asked no one in particular.
It was Argha Flintrock who answered him first. “I don’t know but I sense that there are shadow serpents about. They are servants of the dark dwarves and this can only mean that they are searching for something for them for they are used to track magical items of worth, besides being very deadly in their own right.” Argha spoke quietly to the party as a whole, and the Princess shuddered slightly at this news.
All eyes turned up and were searching the sky for any sign of the fell beasts. But they didn’t see anymore signs of them, so Davkas silently motioned for them to follow him and they made their way further up the trail, and soon they thankfully found some large conifers to shelter them. But the peaceful surroundings soon were shattered by another shriek from the shadow serpents! They sounded very close by now!