Party at Castle Grof Read online

  “That’s a little too bright, young human,” the voice said. “Here, let me dim it for you.” The figure made a motion with a gloved hand and the mage globe changed to a pale yellow light. “That’s much better.”

  Aranok found that he couldn’t move. Neither could Ariana, Erendell or Grald.

  Arnhammen pulled his mace from its sling and growled, “Get ye gone from this place, Unholy One. Get ye gone in Tyr’s name, lest ye taste His Wrath through mine Holy Mace!”

  As the dwarf invoked Tyr’s name, he struck the weapon against the floor and it burst into deep blue flames. The figure shrank back from the mace as Arnhammen advanced on it and the hood on the robe fell back, revealing the figure’s face.

  Aranok gasped “Liana!”

  “No, Half Human. I am the Lych Mistress, Keeper of this Dungeon that you shall soon languish in,” the elven woman replied harshly. “Seize them!”

  Around them ten women appeared, all dressed in skimpy tight leather outfits with high-heeled boots. They seemed to have no weapons but their long fingernails were filed into points and their long hair was plaited and tipped with blades.

  “Ye shall never take us, Unholy One, for no matter who ye be, the power of Tyr be far greater!” Arnhammen roared and charged at the Lych Mistress.

  Four of the women dove on the dwarf and he bashed them away like so many flies at the end of a horse’s tail. They slammed up against the walls of the tunnel, disturbing the solidifying spell so that earth crumbled around them. The women screeched, showing sharpened teeth.

  Arnhammen ignored them and attacked the Lych Mistress again. This time his mace made contact and the elven woman screeched and disappeared in a flash of blue light.

  The rest of the party found they could move again and, drawing their weapons, attacked the other six women. The first four attacked Arnhammen again, trying to get close enough to scratch him. He smashed two of them to the ground, caving their skulls in like melons, the pink-grey brain matter and shards of bone splashing over the dirt.

  Ariana loosed fireball after fireball at the two women who attacked her. She took the first one’s stomach out with a single shot and only just managed to cremate the second one, before she had her eyes scratched out. She fell back against the wall gasping, and dragged a vial bearing the pale green fluid of a mana return potion from her belt pouch, downing it in one gulp.

  The moment Erendell could move, she pulled out her long daggers and whirled on her assailants without thinking. The speed of her attack surprised them and two stabs later she was free enough to help Aranok, who was having problems keeping one woman at bay long enough to kill the other one.

  “You always were faster than me in melee,” he panted as he managed to slice the hand off his attacker and ran her through smoothly.

  “Yes, but you can fight for longer; I tire too easily,” Erendell snapped. “Careful!”

  Her foe had slipped around her and had jumped at Aranok’s back, obviously intending to take advantage of his distraction to slit his throat from behind.

  Erendell sliced through the back of one shapely knee and as the woman dropped to the floor, slammed her other dagger down through the enemy’s skull, the point of her dagger emerging from under the woman’s chin.

  Ariana joined Arnhammen to take out the last two, having recovered her breath, and between her fireballs and his mace, they managed to beat the women into the ground, where their blood turned the dirt into mud and their flesh roasted as their clothing burned.

  When all of the attackers were corpses on the floor of the newly dug tunnel, the party regrouped at the entrance; Ariana collecting the Digger Mech by levitating it to her.

  “Why didn’t the Hell Hounds join in the fight?” Erendell asked no one in particular.

  Aranok looked back up the tunnel where the Hell Hounds were still perched up on their wooden platforms, then calculated the distance between most of the corpses and the guard post. “I’d guess that they have an assigned area to guard and unless they are ordered otherwise or an enemy steps into the assigned area, they don’t leave their post.”

  “Just as well really,” Ariana wheezed. “I’m almost out of mana as it is and having those animals assail us as well would have finished me off.”

  “We can’t take time to rest now,” her brother told her gently.

  “I’ll be fine as soon as I can get my breath back,” she smiled back at him.

  “What should we be doing about this tunnel, Lady Mage?” Arnhammen asked.

  “I have a magical object that should do the trick.” She fished around in her bag and pulled out what looked like a grey stone brick about the size of her palm. She placed it on the ground in the centre of the tunnel entrance. “Stand back.”

  The rest of them pulled back until they stood against the opposite wall.

  Ariana swallowed the contents of a second mana return potion, and then held her hand out over the brick. “Alta!” she commanded and the brick began to grow rapidly. She moved back as it grew and spread out to fill the hole that they had made. It began to integrate with the stone of the walls on either side of the hole.

  “Beleg!” Ariana’s second command stopped the brick’s growth immediately. Once it had finished, the wall looked like it had never been breached, taking on the density and colour of the surrounding stones.

  “I take it you strengthened the stone as well,” Erendell commented, working one of her shoulders.

  Ariana nodded and looked round at her friend. “Are you hurt?”

  “Concern for a Half Drow, Half Elf, all trouble?” Arnhammen spat.

  “Steady on, Arnhammen.” Aranok threw an annoyed look at the dwarf.

  “No!” he snarled. “She caused that whole mess by not waiting for the Lady to return to tell us the result of her spell. Her and that Barbarian Lover of hers…”

  “Grald is not my Lover, dwarf. He’s mildly infatuated with me at best,” Erendell returned without heat.

  “Come to think of it, where is Grald?” Ariana looked around.

  “He was there when the Freeze Spell was active. Where did he go after that?” Erendell frowned, sounding concerned.

  Ariana turned back to the tunnel she had just sealed. “I sealed him up with those Hell Hounds.” Her horrified voice echoed in the stone lined corridor.

  “No you didn’t.” Aranok soothed his distraught sister. “He disappeared when the Lych Mistress vanished.”

  “Are you sure?” Ariana sobbed.

  “Yes, he was between Erendell and the Lych Mistress, I’m sure of it.” Aranok pulled her into a hug.

  Ariana cried into her brother’s shoulder for a while, before she pulled away and blew her nose on a handkerchief Aranok handed her.

  “Arnhammen, did your mace destroy her?” Erendell asked.

  “Nay Drow, it didna. It wasna her real form, just an illusion and the power of Tyr broke the spell.”

  “So where did he go?” Ariana slumped to the floor, too tired to move.

  “Let’s rest here for a while.” Aranok turned to Arnhammen. “Can you set up a barrier that will remain even if you sleep?”

  “Aye Leader, I can and will.” Arnhammen arranged the same four blue quartz cubes around the party, whispering a prayer to Tyr in Dwarfish as he did so.

  Once he’d finished, the cubes glowed bright blue, rose up in the air to the height of the ceiling and began to tumble. The light dropped down in a glass-like barrier that resisted touch on all four sides.

  “The warding barrier will destroy undead and wound evil creatures if they do touch it,” he said, sitting down beside Ariana, before he pulled two vials of blue potion out of his bag and handed one to Ariana. “Drink this and ye’re mana will return twice as fast while ye sleep.” The dwarf swallowed the contents of the other and settled down, wrapped in his cloak.

  He was asleep within a few moments.

  Ariana looked at the vial, looked at Arnhammen, and sank to the floor holding the vial with uncertainty in her eyes.
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  “I’ve never seen one this colour before.”

  “Drink it, Ari.” Erendell urged her “He might be a rude, stubborn underdweller, but he is still a cleric. I believe he is telling the truth.”

  Ariana looked at Aranok. He nodded silently, so she downed the contents of the vial and fell asleep. Aranok covered her with his cloak.

  Erendell curled up in her cloak away from the barrier and fell into a light doze.

  Aranok looked around. The barrier seems solid enough… but I can’t just trust my sister’s life to the magic of a stranger. He sat himself upright in the centre, drew his sword and laid it across his knees. Then he settled into his meditation, trusting his instincts to bring him out if anything untoward happened.

  * * *

  “Aww look my Lord, they fell asleep.” The Jar chuckled. “Shall we have the Lych Mistress carry them away to the prison now?”

  Aracan Katuvana didn’t respond from his throne. The Jar squinted at its master. “My word! The overlord sleeps also. I suppose we should leave them to it then. It will be more fun to attack them when they are rested.”

  The glow in the Jar dimmed as its eye closed as well. Overhead the red glow dimmed slightly as the Tower fell asleep.

  * * *

  When Aranok came out of his meditation several hours later, the barrier was still in place. His companions all slept still and the passageway was quiet.

  That’s strange, he thought. Surely with us resting, we would have been a sitting target.

  He slid his sabre back into its scabbard and stood, stretching to flex the muscles that had stiffened during his mediation.

  His movement alerted Erendell, who stretched like a cat and sat upright. “Still no sign of Grald?” she asked, sounding slightly anxious.

  “Not concerned for him are ye?” Arnhammen said without opening his eyes.

  “Yes I am actually, as one of my companions nothing more, Nogoth.”

  “Don’t you two start again,” Aranok said sharply, hoping to head off anything unpleasant. “We had enough of that earlier.”

  “Yes sir, Leader, sir.” The Drow bobbed her head in a subservient bow at him.

  Aranok glared at Erendell, who rolled her eyes.

  “Can’t a girl have a little fun around here?” Aranok groaned softly.

  “Okay, Okay. I’ll behave myself,” she drawled.

  “What’s the plan then, Brother?”

  Aranok turned to see Ariana shaking out his cloak.

  “Obviously we need to find Grald and we need to get into the centre of the Dungeon to get that crystal.” He took the cloak from her and kissed her cheek as she stood up. “Are you feeling better?”

  “Yes, thank you.” She smiled up at him.

  “There be something strange going on, Sir Aranok. Why would the Barbarian just disappear of his own accord?” Arnhammen frowned at Erendell “I still think yon Drow is up tae somethin’.”

  “That’s silly, Arnhammen,” Ariana laughed. “Erendell and Grald were as much strangers to each other as we were to Grald. None of us had met him before Lord Harnez brought us together.”

  “Can we talk about this while we’re moving, please?” Aranok waited only long enough for the cleric to retrieve his barrier cubes before he moved out, heading north up the tunnel. “The Lych Mistress knows we are here, so we have to move quickly.”

  “Agreed. Why are we going north? She’ll expect us to come through the door leading to the Treasury,” Ariana asked, her breath coming harshly.

  Aranok slowed slightly. “Exactly. She will expect us to come that way. We’re not going through the treasury door. We’re going through the other one.”

  “But Grald said that Shilir said…” Erendell protested

  “…there was a great evil behind it. Yes, I do remember that, Erendell.” Aranok looked back at the dwarf bringing up the rear. “I’m pretty certain Arnhammen is strong enough to deal with something evil.”

  “I am honoured by ye’re faith in me, Leader,” Arnhammen replied.

  Aranok wasn’t quite sure if the dwarf was being sarcastic or not.

  “It is your faith that makes you the stronger warrior in this instance, Arnhammen.”

  “How did the Lych Mistress know we were here and how we were planning to get into the centre of the Dungeon?” Ariana slowed a little, looking around anxiously. “Was she watching us with a spell or something?”

  “Ariana, you do state the obvious sometimes!” Erendell’s laughter rang off the stone walls around them.

  “Shush!” Aranok said. “She might know we’re here now, but I bet she doesn’t know exactly where we are.”

  “The lady mage hae brought up a very good point though – how did the unholy bitch know? The only other people who knew we were coming here were Harnez and Shilir.” Arnhammen shook his head.

  “What are you suggesting?” Erendell tailed off as Aranok gave the elven signal for silence. She huffed and folded her arms under her breasts in annoyance.

  “It doesn’t matter how she found out; some creature may have heard the Mech digging,” he said quietly. “Let’s try to not give away our current position too easily.”

  The others nodded their agreement and fell silent as they walked.

  They reached the far end of the North-South passageway. Without being asked, Ariana whispered a spell and a tiny clear mage globe formed, took off from her hand and sped around the corner.

  “Ten skeletons guarding the treasury door. It’s wide open,” she whispered. “The further door is unguarded. They obviously don’t think we’d want to go there.” The globe returned to her hand and she put it away.

  The group retreated some distance down the passageway to be able to talk.

  “I still think the treasury is our best bet,” Erendell said.

  “You always were more interested in money than anything else,” Ariana said.

  “I’m hurt. I do think of other things you know, friendship for one of them.” Erendell placed her left hand to her heart and Aranok frowned.

  “Since when did you go in for tattoos, Erendell?” he gestured at the red rose picture on her hand.

  Arnhammen suddenly looked interested.

  “What sort of tattoo?”

  “It’s nothing, just a little something I picked up on my travels.” She put her hand behind her back.

  “I’m not a Ranger for nothing, Erendell; I notice things. Having a full bloom rose tattooed on the back of your hand would be painful,” Aranok said. “Where did you get it done?”

  “Galindren. It’s really none of your business, Aranok.”

  “What does Lady Eliethor think of it?”

  Erendell stayed silent, hand behind her back.

  “Ah. I see. You haven’t seen your mother since it was done, have you? How long has it been since you’ve been home?”

  “Does this really matter, Aranok?” Ariana asked. “We have more important things to do.”

  Aranok desisted in his questioning, but the uneasy feeling that the rose meant something significant to their quest wouldn’t go away.

  They decided to bash their way through the skeletons on guard, run straight past and round the far Northwest corner, where they would pause to let the kerfuffle die down. Then they would slip back to the unguarded door and go through without being spotted.

  “Hopefully,” Arnhammen growled, swinging his mace a few times to settle his armour’s shoulder plates.

  “It’s better than trying to fight our way through to the centre of the Dungeon completely. Shilir tried that at the south entrance, remember?” Ariana reminded the dwarf.

  “Aye, but he dinnae have a proper Mage Protector wi’ him,” the dwarf said. “The Guild thought this place were empty, so they nae sent one wi’him.”

  “Everyone ready?” Aranok asked, slipping something into his mouth.

  “Yup.” Erendell smiled, looking overexcited.

  “Have you taken something?” Ariana asked suspiciously.

  �
�Not much, just a little Copperleaf Candy.”

  “Great. Now she’ll be loopy and hyper,” the mage groaned to Aranok, who grinned at her.

  “You should try it – livens the blood up,” he replied sticking his tongue out. It was bright green.

  “Not you as well…” Ariana pressed her lips together. “I thought you were staying away from copperleaf.”

  “Just the bread,” he shrugged. “It’s the berries that taste bad. I like Copperleaf itself.”

  Ariana rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

  “When we get to the other end, I’m casting an Unremarkable spell, remember. If you’re acting too crazy, it won’t work.”

  “It will have worn off by then,” Erendell giggled. “The effect of the bonbons never last long enough.”

  “Ne’er mind that now, can we just get on with this?” Arnhammen said.

  “Lets. Get. Going!” Aranok roared out.

  The party ran around the corner and along the east-west corridor. They collided with the skeletons at full pelt.

  Arnhammen, who was in the lead, laid about him with his mace, opening up a path littered with inanimate, crumbled bones for the others to pass over and they kept running.

  The few skeletons that chased them were dealt with swiftly and the group disappeared around the other corner. There they dropped to the floor on either side of the passageway and stayed absolutely silent and still.

  Ariana whispered, “Ilya il Esgahl”, pointing at each party member in turn.

  They stayed there for an hour. Four patrols of skeletons walked straight past them in the first twenty minutes. When the patrols began to lighten, Ariana risked a small spell and sent her little clear mage globe aloft to scout the area. When it returned she exhaled noisily.

  “The guards are down to a set of four. If we’re careful we’ll be able to slip into the other door without being seen.”

  “You don’t look happy,” Aranok commented.

  “I’m just tired. The Unremarkable spell saps your strength a fair bit.” She pulled out a mana return vial and swallowed its contents in one gulp.