Return of the Hapless Hobbits - Part I

The Prisoners of Five Animals Hall

Meanwhile... about nine days earlier in Hobbington ...

Ishcandar and Lido watched as the student in the black robes closed the door behind him. They wondered vaguely if they would ever see the light of day again, but shrugged it off lightly. Ishcandar uncorked the wine on his night table and took a swig of the rich aromatic liquor. Lido sat at the desk and pulled out a piece of parchment paper and ink kit from his backpack and began studiously drawing the map of the dungeon as he remembered it thus far. Ishcandar laid down on his bed and swigged from the bottle contentedly. He felt very alert, his senses practically tingling from the Jarrow Tea. He gazed at the fine silver band with the small turquoise stud on it that was on his finger. This ring was given to him by the Guild Master Rothmon with the instructions to use it to communicate with any of the other six ring wearers when need be. Lido was another ring wearer, as was Rothmon himself. The other three rings the Guild Master had left in the wooden box and put away. All of the rings were identical, finely crafted, and softly glowing with mystical energy.

As Lido finished up his map, he heard Ishcandar uncork the other bottle of wine that was on his table. He looked up briefly, and his friend smiled congenially, raised the bottle in the air saluting him, and took a long happy swig. Lido was considering taking a morsel of cheese or piece of fruit from the tray on his night table when, at that moment he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. A quick glance allowed him to spot a rat skittering under the bed. He noticed that the rat had a brown patch over one eye and long white tail, and recognized it immediately as Bernie’s rat. He went over to the bed and knelt down to look under it. Yes, indeed it was definitely Bernie’s rat, now up on two legs sniffing. Lido took a cube of cheese from the tray, and offered it.

“Eeep eeep,” squeaked the rat, and took the cheese in his little paws and began gnawing away at it greedily. Though he didn’t really care much for Hobbits generally, the rat had begrudging respect for them, as they were practically the only creatures he knew that could in a pinch actually sneak up on him. But in this case it was no concern, he had been sent to find them, and so he had, and now they had rewarded him. He decided these Hobbits were so bad after all.

“It’s Bernie’s rat,” said Lido.

“Oh really. Well if you don’t mind, I think I’ll have a bit more of your wine.”

“Well, leave a bit of cheese, at least, will you?”

“Not too worry,” Ishcandar replied merrily. “I don’t touch the stuff.”

The rat made his way along the shadows beneath the bed, and slipped through a hole in the stonework. He was making his way back to Bernie who was waiting for his return in a nearby corridor.

After a few minutes there was a sound at the door, ever so gentle. The door handle moved. Both Ishcandar and Lido perked up and stared at it.

“I do hope they brought more wine,” said Ishcandar.

Lido went to open the door for the unknown person in the hall. However, he found that the door was locked. This did not entirely surprise him. He waited as someone from the outside unlocked the door with a skillful twist of a metal pin. Both of the Hobbits were familiar with the technique, and at this point were not surprised either to see Bernie slide the door open and slip in, quiet as a rat.

The Rat Arrives

“Bernie!” shouted Ishcandar happily, and raised the bottle in the air again before taking another three glugs. Bernie glared at him, silently slid the door shut, and looked around the room. He casually sat down by the tray of cheese.

“Friend!” exclaimed Ishcandar, now deeply puzzled, “how about a drink?”

“No thanks,” he replied coolly. “I didn’t come to drink.”

“Are you here to … ?” asked Lido with his voice trailing off.

“You may not realize it, but you happen to be in quite a bit of danger here. I’ve come to rescue you,” said Bernie finishing his sentence for him.

“You know something, then, of the Five Animals that we should know?” asked Lido.

“Why do you think the door was locked?” asked Bernie.

“Well, now that you mention it, I don’t figure it was for our protection,” answered Lido thoughtfully.

“It wasn’t,” replied Bernie as he poked a cube of cheese with his dagger and popped it into his mouth.

“Perhaps it was for their own protection from us,” offered Ishcandar grinning drunkenly.

“Yes, you do cut a fearsome figure, you two,” Bernie commented dryly with a sideways glance.

“I take it you made your way here unnoticed?” asked Lido.

“Of course.”

“And you can get us out the same way?” he continued.

“That will be more difficult,” said Bernie as he gave his pet rat a cheese cube to nibble on. “Your accommodations are in fact located at the center of a prison block.”

“I must say, this prison has the nicest bed I’ve slept on, ever, I think,” responded Lido, not quite convinced of Bernie’s story.

“Mine is a bit lumpy,” put in Ishcandar, taking another swig from his wine bottle.

“Yes, well it’s a form of torture. ‘Lumpy bed’. It’s very annoying after many many years. Quite diabolical, isn’t it?” replied Bernie sarcastically.

“I’m used to a pile of dung on the floor,” said Lido sincerely. “Sometimes there’s a little bit of straw on top of the dung. If I’m lucky, it’s fresh and soft, otherwise I must suffer with it being hard and crusty.”

“Ayeee… that’s enough. I’m leaving,” said Bernie, with a disgusted glare.

“What? My family is very poor,” said Lido with a hint of injured pride in his voice.

Bernie turned back toward the cheese plate and took another piece as he sized up the two hapless Hobbits. He glanced around the room while giving another bit of cheese to his pet rat who greedily nibbled away at it, also glancing around the room.

“What is your plan, then, good Bernie?” asked Ishcandar.

“My plan is get you out of here,” he answered plainly.

“Well as you can see, we are doing splendidly,” said Ishcandar lifting the wine to his lips yet again.

“On my way I discovered that the master of the Five Animals Hall is not such a pleasant fellow after all,” continued Bernie. “In fact, he has here quite a number of prisoners. Many of them are children. Most are emaciated. I fear he intends them no good.”

“Well,” said Ishcandar, finally perking up with a serious look around. “We must get everyone out of here, then.”

“Wait a second,” answered Bernie, putting up his hand. “I didn’t say anything about getting anyone else out of here… just you,” he concluded with a dark gaze.

“What of Hermel?” asked Ishcandar. “Is he going to get a brigade to come and break us out of here? He’s a trustworthy friend if there ever was one,” said Ishcandar enthusiastically.

“Well, um… well, I’m not so sure you can rely on him for that,” answered Bernie, annoyed at the suggestion that there might be any alternative to his own escape plan. “He did seem quite peeved any time he mentioned you two, actually. Something about Hobbits being lousy, no-good, unpredictable, drunken fools, or some such,” he concluded.

“I can’t see how that could be!” protested Ishcandar. “We got along so fondly together, like brothers practically!”

“I always thought he liked us,” said Lido.

“Well, I can see why he would like you,” answered Bernie, his eyes shifting. “But he kept mentioning something about Hobbits causing so much trouble… being so crazy…”

“He must have been talking about some other Hobbits,” said Lido, quite perplexed.

“I-I-I-I… suppose… it’s possible…” answered Bernie slowly.

“Does he even know any other Hobbits?” asked Ishcandar.

“He did mention, however, that Ishcandar’s father would be very … “ said Bernie.

“My father?” asked Ishcandar glugging down the last of his wine suddenly.

“Yes, he said your father would be rather upset that you were captured. I happen to overhear him speaking with some fellow who showed up at the Guild Hall claiming he was sent by your father to look for you. He said he was your teacher, in fact.”

“My teacher?” exclaimed Ischandar, looking down the barrel of his wine bottle to see if there was at least another drop left.

“Yes, a Mr. Stoutheart I believe,” answered Bernie.

“I need more wine!’ Ischandar exclaimed as he put the empty bottle on the table with a bang. “At any rate, I feel rather content here in prison after all. I don’t see any need to leave. We’ll get along just fine here. No need to bother. You may as well get along now Bernie. I’ve decided to stay!”

“Well, to be honest, there is another matter at hand of some import. This Mr. Stoutheart happen to mention that your father, as it turns out, is a rather wealthy man about town,” explained Bernie.

“Well yes, that can be said,” answered Ishcandar hurriedly.

“And, he went on to add that anyone who was able to bring you back home would be sure to get quite a handsome reward for the effort,” Bernie continued.

“Hmmmm…” said Ishcandar thoughtfully.

“Do you think that’s true?” asked Bernie.

“Hmmmm… my father? Offering a reward for … me?”

A Gentleman’s Agreement

“Well, as it happened,” Bernie went on, “Hermel, whom I’m sure likes you very sincerely, suggested to Mr. Stoutheart that he return to your father and advise him to use his enormous wealth to raise a large force of fighting men to come here and extract you from this prison. When I heard that I thought to myself, ‘Oh my, that would be sure to get those two poor innocent Hobbits killed!’ So I took it upon myself to come and rescue you right away. I can’t imagine what terrible fate would be in store for you if a force of fighters came blundering in here demanding your release!”

“Well, Elkron knows, I will certainly take care of you,” said Ishcandar, suddenly quite eager to depart the premises. He felt for his money pouch, but found that it was missing. Instead he found a much smaller pouch with only two silver pieces in it. He then recalled vaguely that Hermel had demanded his money back at the bar in exchange for saving his life yet again.

“Well, I don’t know… it doesn’t look like there is very much money in there,” said Bernie doubtfully.

“Well, I will certainly make sure my father pays you handsomely when I return safely home,” said Ishcandar. “Take this as a small down payment,” he added, tossing Bernie the pouch with two silver.

“That’s a pittance, but I’ll take it for my troubles thus far,” replied Bernie, not entirely satisfied.

“I’m sure Ishcandar’s father will pay you handsomely later,” offered Lido.

“Let’s just say there’s 98 more silver where that came from,” said Ishcandar.

“Ok, that sounds good then. Let’s shake on it,” he said offering his hand. They shook hands.

At that moment Ishcandar noticed an pale blue light coming from beneath the door.

“Uh… fellows?” said Ishcandar pointing to the crack at the bottom of the door. They all stared at the pale blue glow coming through the crack at the bottom of the door. Lido thought it looked rather reminiscent of the strange blue light that they encountered in the basement room at the base of Dunn’s Bridge Tower when Doctor Lobe had been doing his bizarre experiments. He thought it did not bode well.

A breeze began to blow in the room. They noticed dust floating across floor.

“Maybe there is someone coming down the corridor with a lantern,” offered Bernie whispering. He sent his rat through a hole in the wall, and said, “He will take a look and let us know who is out there.”

After a while the rat did not return. Bernie grew nervous. He decided to go and take a look outside.

“Stay here,” he said, as he opened the door, and went out into what looked like a pale blue fog. Time went by. They waited. Bernie did not return. Lido then began to hear a voice coming from outside the door. The voice sounded terrifyingly familiar.

“There is no time left, … there is no time left, … there is no time left…” said the voice in an spine chilling tone.

“You hear that?” asked Ischandar looking around for another bottle of wine.

“Yes. I’ve heard that voice before…”

Escape From Deja Vu

Some papers began fluttering across the floor. They didn’t know where they came from. One of the papers flipped against the wall and stuck there. Ishcandar went and picked it up, as Lido backed away from the door. The paper had a picture on it. Ishcandar could not quite focus on it, but it seemed to be a page from a wall calendar. Lido noticed that there were now cobwebs on the walls billowing in the breeze. The blue light became deeper and deeper.

“I think we should probably consider leaving this room,” said Ishcandar, as he noticed Lido backing away from the door with a look of terror on his face. “Come on! You only live once!” and with that he went to the door and put his hand on the brass doorknob.

Suddenly they both found themselves having been moved, as though they just woke up from a dream. Lido was sitting at the table just pulling out his parchments and ink to draw the map, and Ishcandar was laying on the bed again, taking his first swig of the wine he’d picked up from the table with the cheese. They both felt as though they were experiencing an incredibly vivid Déjà vu. They watched powerless as they went though all the motions they had before. Ishcandar drank and babbled, while Lido made the map. The rat showed up and went under the bed, and Lido gave it the cheese. Bernie arrived and they made their escape-bargain. Everything happened exactly as before down to the minutest detail. It was increadible. And then the blue light came, and the voice… “…there is no time left, … there is no time left… there is no time left…” echoing troughout the room. And again Ischandar panicked and ran to open the door. And again, upon touching the brass doorknob they found themselves again where they had started. And this went on, over, and over, and over and over again. Ten times. A hundred times. A thousand times. And each time there was no change, and no matter how hard they tried they could not break free of the Déjà vu. And each time the terrible voice echoed, “… there is no time left…”

“This is the most wonderful thing in the world,” thought Ishcandar deep down inside. “I have more wine! An everlasting replenishing of wine! And behold! No hang over!” And so it was that every time the Déjà vu started over again, Ishcandar grew happier and happier. This was, as it turned out, Ishcandar heaven.

After a while Lido noticed that he had, through sheer repetition, studied and learned every single facet of the scene down to the minutest detail. He counted the stones on the floor. There were 365. He knew the exact configuration of the rat’s spots. He had counted the number of papers blowing, and knew their trajectories, and how many flips they made as they blew across the floor. Even the number of spider webs billowing.

It wasn’t until somewhere around the 4380th time through the Déjà vu that Lido noticed something, one single thing, which was different. As Ischandar was putting his mouth to the bottle of wine (‘a fine Chianti produced from selected grapes grown in the township of Lilac Brook. It is an elegant, well-balanced, full-bodied wine with a very long aging potential’, Ishcandar had learned though thousands of readings of the label), this time, he noticed… on the plate of fruit and cheese … there was … a fly.

Lido was absolutely certain that it had not been there before. And this gave him a sudden surge of hope to try once again, as he had done 4379 times before without the slightest hint of success, to somehow break free of the Déjà vu. This time, because of the fly, he suddenly was able to move one muscle differently, and so he twitched his left eyebrow ever so slightly as he glanced at the fly on the cheese. He suddenly felt completely liberated. And so the Déjà vu was as suddenly broke as it had begun.

Ishcandar, whose senses had been heightened earlier by a cup of Jarrow tea, noticed the fly and without a moment’s hesitation swatted it. Fruit and cheese went airborne, but the fly, a tiny little thing with shiny yellow-green chitin and black wings, flitted away and disappeared somewhere.

Lido was at first rather annoyed, as he had been considering having a bit of cheese after his map was done, but then, realizing what had happened, rose and calling Ishcandar’s name affectionately gave him a great big hug.

Lido then backed up into the middle of the room and began turning himself around to the right. He then pivoted back the other way.

“For joy!” he said, “We’re not repeating ourselves anymore!’

Ishcandar, however, stared at his furry-footed friend in disbelief. For as Lido turned himself around the first time, as far as Ishcandar could tell, Lido appeared to age… older and older until he stood there a little old Hobbit with a head of long hoary hair. As Lido turned himself back the other way, he reverted to his previous age, and when he stopped pivoting he was quite back to his old self again. Ishcandar drank heartily from his bottle, emptying it in a few large gulps.

Suddenly, a rat came into the room and skittered under the bed. Lido’s memory of the extreme Déjà vu was almost completely vanished. He could not remember any details specifically, but he did have an overall sense of what was going to happen, as did Ishcandar, who went to the door to welcome Bernie. They quickly agreed on the arrangment, to Bernie’s surprise.

“Yes, yes, I understand completely, Bernie,” Ischandar said as soon as Bernie came into the room and sat down. “I’ll give you whatever you want,” he said.

“Whatever I want?”

“Yes, yes, absolutely.”

“Ok. How about 10,000 Iron?”

“Fine, fine. Let’s shake on it and be off,” said Ishcandar reaching out to shake Bernie’s hand with his other hand having crossed fingers behind his back. It was not an easy matter to deceive the likes of Bernie, but Ishcandar managed to pull it off, and so it was that they were very quickly ready to leave. Lido and Ishcandar both wanted to get away well before the pale blue light showed up again. And so they went out into the corridor together.

Trapped Like Rats

At this point Ishcandar remembered that he was wearing the mystical ring given to him by Rothmon. He had been told that it would allow him, and Lido, who also had one, to communicate back to Rothmon for up to one minute each day though a psychic link that formed between each of the six rings. So he focused on the gemstone and felt his mind reaching outward. He felt that he was suddenly in contact with another mind, and so burbled forth all of the recent events, explaining how he and Lido had come to be trapped in the Five Animals Hall, and of their current attempt to escape.

Lido, who was wearing one of the other rings heard Ishcadnar’s thoughts clear as day coming through into his mind. However, they both noticed that Rothmon’s mind could not be contacted. It felt to them that Ishcandar’s thoughts were somehow bouncing off of the walls of the corridor’s ancient stones, and not making it to Rothmon at all. They were both quite disappointed by this, and had a sense for the first time just how trapped they really were. There was nothing else to do, then, than trust Bernie and forge ahead. They quickly took a look at Lido’s map, but Bernie already knew everything on it, and so it did not provide any assistance under the circumstances, except that it made it suddenly clear to them that the Five Animals Hall was approximately twenty feet directly below the Dunn’s Bridge Tower where they had originally seen the pale blue light. They wished to be away from there.

They spent a few minutes trying to determine the best route out. In the end Bernie advised them to follow him along the route he came in. He had slipped in through the water tunnels beneath the Five Crows Tavern into the complex on the other side of the main Hall where the white tiger statue was. They quietly crept along the corridor in the direction Bernie recommended. There were doors along the way, but they were sealed.

“How many guards are there?” asked Ischandar.

“I’m not sure. I hid when I heard them coming, but the whole prison complex has guards. We have to be as quiet as possible,” replied Bernie. “Don’t get nervous. Just follow me.”

Lido wondered how it was possible for Bernie to have come into the complex through the main Hall without being seen. He speculated that Bernie might have been able to do that if he had turned into a rat. He considered that perhaps his pet rat was in fact Bernie, but then remembered that he saw them both at the same time. A little perplexed, he nevertheless thought that somehow Bernie and his rat were one in the same person. Hard to imagine how, but he just could not quite get over that impression. In any event Bernie insisted that they would be able to escape through the White Tiger Hall if they hid in the shadows and moved silently as possible. While there were many guards in the complex, the school itself tended to be occupied only by the few students of the master. Their best chance was to go straight through the tiger’s lair. But quietly!

They turned left down the corridor and headed to the large banded wooden door that the corridor ended in. They passed several doors along the way. As they passed one of the wooden doors on their right Ishcandar heard a voice.

“Help!” cried the plaintive voice. It was a girl. She sounded quite cute.

“I say was save her,” said Ishcanar immediately.

“Help us, please! Somebody!” cried cute, but sad little voice.

Lido, who was not particularly interested in taking on additional risks, crept to the main door that lead the way out of the prison block, and listened there. He heard nothing on the other side.

“It sounds like the coast is clear,” he whispered. Bernie came up behind him and also listened. He nodded his agreement.

“What about the girl?” inquired Ishcandar, a bit puzzled by his compatriots’ attitude.

“Bernie is here to save you for quite a bit of money. I, myself, wish to escape first, and then seek help from the outside to rescue anyone within the prison. We can’t help anyone if we get caught trying to rescue others,” said Lido.

Bernie took his pet out from the sleeve of his cloak. He whispered into the rat’s ear and put him down on the ground. The rat skittered away and through a hole in the stonework.

“He’ll be back soon, and let us know if anyone is out there,” he said.

Meanwhile they decided it would be prudent to check the door for traps. Bernie, who had a lot of experience with such things, took a look.

“We just came through this door on the way in,” Lido whispered, “I don’t think it is trapped.”

“It’s trapped,” said Bernie pointing to a small wire. As it happened he was quite right. The wire was rigged to trigger some mechanism inside the wall if the lever of the door handle were moved. Fortunately, having seen the trap, Ischandar, who was trained in such things, found it relatively easy to disable. He wondered what the trap actually triggered, but there was no way to know that.

While they waited, Ishcandar went back to the door where he heard the girl’s voice.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“My name is Elizabeth. I’m here with my father. Please help us.”

“Your father is there with you?”

“Yes,” she said.

Lido came up to Ishcandar. “We are going to have enough trouble escaping, without trying to rescue an old man and a little girl.”

“We will send help as fast as we can. But for now we have to get out of here,” whispered Ishcandar through the door. They heard the girl on the other side begin to cry.

The rat returned. Bernie motioned to them that the coast was clear on the other side. Lido looked at his map.

“There is no way that Bernie got in here by going through the White Tiger Hall. He must have turned into a rat!” thought Lido to himself.

“Where are you from?” asked Ishcandar through the door.

“We’re from High Street. Your voice sounds familiar to me. Please help us,” she whispered.

“What’s your name?” asked Ishcandar.

“Warden. Elizabeth Warden. My father is John Warden. I think we met on High Street not long ago. Please help us!”

“Bernie. Can you check for traps on this door?” asked Ischandar.

“No. I’m here to rescue you. I’m not taking any chances,” answered Bernie.

“Well then, maybe you can go on your own way then,” replied Ishcandar, now determined to rescue the girl.

Return of the Déjà vu

“Ok. Fine. I’ll check it. But this better not cause us any problems!" he hissed. He checked for traps, but found none. Ischandar decided to pick the lock, and took out his tools to do so. As soon as he touched the door handle, however, a bell suddenly began ringing loudly. A door at the far end of the corridor suddenly flung open with a thud. Inside they saw the silhouettes of several large hulking figures. Behind them several flames belched upward in orange billows silhouetting the enormous men rushing through the doorway with spiked clubs in their meaty hands. Several large red toads with dimly glowing yellow eyes and long yellow fangs hopped out of the room, each one belching fire as it came.

“Uhm… sorry, Miss! But we gotta get out of here! We’ll come back for you later!” shouted Ischandar as he ran back toward the exit door. Lido watched with horror as three huge men came charging down the corridor bellowing loudly. He realized suddenly as they came into the light that they were the same muliti-eyed men that Ishcandar and he had encountered down in the dungeon just before the students of Five Animals Hall had captured them. The master, if he remembered correctly, called the creatures, Polyvizus. Each of them had twelve eyes wrapped around his head, and bellowed like mad bulls. It was not comforting to have them charging with heavy studded clubs in their hands towards the mushy little Hobbits.

“Bernie!… time to get out of here…” Lido shouted as he edged backwards. Bernie was crouching over the handle of the door and with a final flick of his tools opened the lock. He rubbed his finger nails against his chest and smiled smugly.

“Let’s go,” he said. They ran though the door. Ishcandar closed it behind them and locked it. There were heavy thuds against the door as the Hobbits and Bernie turned to the right and came to the next door. There was a soft blue light emanating beneath the doorframe.

“…there’s no time left, … there’s no time left… there’s no time left…” echoed endlessly through the corridor

Bernie stopped at the door.

"There is someone with a blue lantern coming," he whispered.

“No, it’s magical light,” said Lido. "For heaven's sake, ignore it!"

“Oh great,” said Bernie, not entirely disbelieving that. He’d seen plenty of strange things in his short years, and magic was something he'd come to at least partially believe in. He reached for the doorknob. Touching it Ishcandar and Lido suddenly found themselves back in the prison room. Lido was pulling out his parchment and ink, and Ishcandar took his first sip of wine as he reclined easily on the bed.

"Ah," thought Ishcandar, "I have returned to Paradise!"

Over and over and over again for thousands upon thousands of times they repeated every single thing exactly as before. The Déjà vu was unquenchable in its ferocity. The madness resulting from seeing the same events play out thousands upon thousands of times took a strange toll on them both. Everything was exactly the same each time. Even the swatting of the fly, and escaping the first round of Déjà vu lost all sense of victory as they were entirely engulfed in the second round, over and over and over again endlessly. And all the while, “… there’s no time left, … there’s no time left, … there’s no time left…” echoed with sinister abandon throughout their souls. All the way up to the moment when Ischandar went to put his finger gingerly on the girl’s door to try to help her escape in the 52560th cycle. For the first time then he noticed that on the door handle there was … a tiny yellow fly with black wings.

“Thwap!” Ishcandar struck at the fly with his hand. Suddenly the time loop was broken! And so they escaped the Déjà vu’s deadly clutches once again. The little yellow fly buzzed away and vanished into the shadows, laughing with delight.

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Previous Episode: Battle of Dragon Bridge - Part II
Next Episode: Return of the Hapless Hobbits - Part II

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Battle of Dragon Bridge - Part II

The Pretty Young Girl in the Black Cape

The pretty and slender young woman with luxurious long red-brown hair sat by the steaming outdoor bath as she watched Senior Borge and his small entourage of lawyers bustle their way through the snow, bracing themselves against the cold wind. Senior Borge, noticing the beautiful eyes gazing at him, waved and called out “Hello young lady!”

She turned her eyes away and pretended not to have heard him. Senior Borge, remembering that he was in a great hurry to leave the vale, shook off the girl’s enchantment and continued on his way, his young lawyers following regretfully in train behind him.

Meanwhile, further up the trail, and well out of view, the party stood gaping in astonishment that the Great Frost Eagle had vanished up into the sky and became a cloud. They regrouped and began to discuss matters. It seemed, they decided, that the dreadful beast had been something of an illusion.

“Chicken says it was an ‘IllU-ZZIon’!” exclaimed Bantum, excitedly trying to pronounce that complicated multi-syllable word. Dr. Chickenhiemer felt a pang of pride that the giant baffoon had managed to pronounce it sufficiently for the others to understand it, even if Bantum himself had absolutely no idea whatsoever what that word meant.

Back at the bath, Senior Borge had been unable to resist the girl’s charms after all.  And so he had turned his entourage around and made his way back down the path, and eventually came up to the edge of the steaming pool.  He commanded his retinue to clean their faces and take a moment to refresh themselves for the long journey. Mae, with a condescending turn of the head, proceeded to ignore them as they feasted their eyes on her voluptuous form. After a few awkward moments of everyone gaping at the poor girl she wrapped her towel around herself carefully and went to the bath house to change into more substantial clothing, annoyed that she had been interrupted. Without a word to any of the forelorn men there she took her leave and went back to the Prancing Unicorn Inn. It was none too satisfying there either, however, as there were still people dashing about repairing damages from the barn fire, and many miners were moaning and groaning on cots all around the first and second floors of the Inn.

“Say, Miss,” said the barkeep when he saw her come in, stop at the door and look around with an expression of ennui, “I don’t suppose you happen to be a nurse?”

“No,” she replied.

“Do you know how to bandage wounds?”

“No,” she replied.

“Can you comfort any of these wounded men at least?”

“No,” she replied.

“I see. Ok, well, if you must be that way…” he said, his voice trailing off as he admired her beauty just the same. His wife came out from he kitchen caring a basin of hot water and fresh white towels to help some of the miners with.

“Oh, hello, Mae,” she said as she passed the wanton girl, whom she knew would be unlikely to offer any sort of assistance.

“Hello, ma’am,” replied Mae as the woman bustled past. She watched her as she bent over a wounded miner and began applying warm water to an open cut. Disinterested in that, she looked around again. In fact, she found that there wasn’t much of interest here for her after all. There was no music, no dinner, and no handsome men of sufficient health and wealth to provide her any particular incentive to stay. And so, without much ado, she left the Prancing Unicorn and decided to head home. It would be something of a trek, and the snow was deep, but she knew the way well, and had traveled it many times. Nor was it particularly far, taking only the morning to get there on a clear day. In the snow, she might make it home by night fall. And besides, she thought, her father would worry about her if she did not come home soon, given that he would have likely seen the dark plume of smoke from the recent barn fire. Off into the white snow drifts she went, her head bound in a gorgeous black sable hat, and her beautiful black cloak trailing behind her.

Further up the trail, Star of Justice was panting frosty vapors, bent over with his right hand hand on one knee.  Sweat dripped from his forehead and started to form icicles on his hair.  The others stood nearby in similar condition.

“I didn’t know Divine Judgment would be so tiring,” he said, wiping his forehead with his sleeve.

Hermel came out from his hiding spot and made his way through the snow toward the party.

“Look – it’s the coward!” shouted Bantum cheerfully.

"I was crouching in my 'sniper's hole'" announced Hermel unconvincingly.

Praymar made is way to his parents, and they clasped each other with exhausted relief. The battle may have been against an illusionary Frost Eagle, but it was no less perilous for that.  They were lucky that no one had been seriously injured, or driven mad.

“Someone is approaching on the road,” said Star. They all peered through the trees and caught sight of Senior Borge and his entourage, huffing and puffing as they trundled their way through the snow.

“That’s Senior Borge. He’s an important man. I wonder if we could flank along with him, as it might give us the means to get over the bridge, perhaps.”

Praymar Makes A Move

Praymar was curious about Senior Borge and snuck up to the road planning to hide behind a pine tree in order to watch them pass. As he approached he inadvertently stepped on a twig, which snapped with a loud ‘twak’. One of the lawyers took notice of Praymar and mentioned his presence to Senior Borge.

“Oh damn it!” squeaked Praymar.

“Praymar, they are going to kill you,” whispered Hermel angrily, “and I’m going to watch.” The fact that the wreckless little albino had given away their presence might have been fatal. Praymar decided to step out from behind the tree and make a bolder stand. Everyone waited for him to be riddled with arrows, but the men, seeing the strange looking white haired boy with glowering red eyes, proceeded to trundle along pretending that they hadn’t noticed him after all. Praymar thought twice about flickering his forked tongue at them.

“I’m over here!’ he shouted, now annoyed at being ignored once again. The men continued trundling away as quickly as they could.

“Say,” called Praymar to the party, “maybe if we hurry we can follow close behind and get over the bridge with them!”

“I just suggested that,” replied Star to himself. Arik thought it sounded like a reasonable plan, and the others didn't disagree. Hermel, listening to this kind of talk, decided that he would be far better off to get far away from the party after all. These people, he suddenly realized, are far too reckless for his tastes. He immediately turned face and headed south through the snow.

“Do me a favor,” he said, turning around briefly, “when you get captured by the men on the bridge and are beaten and tortured to death, don’t rat me out, ok? I’ll be escaping elsewhere. My townsmen need me. Farewell.”

And with that, Hermel entered into the pine trees. Star of Justice watched Hermel vanish from view with dismay.

“Arik, will you go with Hermel?” asked he thoughtfully. “He may need help along the way, after all.” But Arik had other things on his mind.

“Beyond giving away our position,” asked Arik, turning to Praymar, “do you have any sort of plan?”

“I just wanted to see what they were doing,” the albino squeaked in reply.

The gaggle of lawyers, meanwhile, were hustling as quickly as they could down the road toward the Dragon Bridge. Praymar, having exhausted his meager supply of patience, ran off down the road after them. Lanna and Ben both ran after him, calling his name trying to get him to slow down. Star decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea necessarily to follow behind and see how the lawyers fare at the bridge. Arik, on the other hand, looked back after Hermel, thinking that he was probably the wisest among them for having run off. And Bantum, none the wiser in any event, simply followed along behind everyone else wondering if it was time to feed his chickens. They seemed a bit peckish as they clucked and squawked on the bandoleer as he strode through the snow. Only Dr. Chickenhiemer remained quiet, keeping a careful eye on the two men in cloaks on the Bridge from his perch on top of Bantum’s head.

The lawyers, pretending not to notice the weird squeaking albino and his family following after them, picked up speed, and made it onto the bridge. With a few curt words, and a wave of his hand, Senior Borge somehow gained passage, and with his little crew waddled past the guards, and hurried over to the other side, with ne’er a glance over his shoulder. They sped away as fast as Senior Borge’s stubby legs could carry him. As the last of the lawyers was ushered through, the ranks closed and the thuggish guards faced the road with grim expressions, shields raised. Praymar stopped. Lanna and Ben stopped behind him. Star stopped. And Arik held Bantum at bay. Praymar, never one to waste a moment in thought dodged back into the forest and made his way back the way they came supposing he might run into Hermel again.

Far behind them on the road he spotted a figure in a black cloak trudging through the snow.

“Hey, here comes someone else on the road!” he squeaked. Everyone turned around and watched as the young lady approached along the road. Praymar, shy as a field mouse, hid behind a tree and peered at her as she passed. He had seen her many times before but had never been able to introduce himself. Lanna met her on the road.

“Greetings, Mae,” said Lanna warmly.

“Oh, hello Ma’am,” replied Mae with a little curtsy. Everyone in the party crowded around her, half amazed at her astonishing loveliness. Bantum came up, covered in clucking chickens, and said, “Hello, pretty lady!” Mae’s eyes went wide.

Star explained to the young lady that they were hoping to leave the vale, but the Bridge was blocked by armed men who insisted that everyone turn back, except for Senior Borge and his people, who were allowed to pass. The girl asked what they intended to do. None of them were quite sure what to do. They began to squabble. Some wanted to go after Hermel and find another way out of the vale. Some wanted to fight the guards in a sudden assault. Some wanted to sneak around the guards and avoid the bridge all together somehow.

It was decided after all to go off and find Hermel. What they didn’t know was that Hermel was hiding in the forest meditating in order to recuperate the mystical power he had recently expended. He did not wish to be disturbed. Yet, after quite a bit of a trudging around in the forest, they stumbled upon Hermel’s trail and eventually found him. He was none too pleased.

When Pretty Young Girls Go It Alone

For her part, Mae had decided that her best chance was to use her charms to persuade the guards to let her go home. And so after bidding the party a good day and the best of the luck, without further ado she made her way to the bridge where she caught the eye of one of the thuggish Captains, was immediately captured by the craven bullies and carried off. Unfortunately, the party members, having made their way into the forest, did not hear her cries for help, and so there was no one to come to her rescue. She decided, therefore, to make the best of things, and wait for an opportunity to get her revenge.

Meanwhile the party, having reunited, debated long and hard on how to escape the vale. They decided eventually, that the best idea was for the mystics to spend their time in meditation and healing, and so restore their mystic energies. Since they knew that there was an Illusionist of some kind on the bridge it seemed to them a good idea to prepare themselves for another mystic battle. It took the rest of the day. Fortunately, the guards on the bridge made no effort to track them through the woods, undoubtedly reasoning that doing so would deplete their force and create a vulnerability that could allow an aggressive band of fighters to overwhelm the bridge and escape the vale. So the held their position and waited.

Once the sky became a deep indigo speckled with stars, the party, having positioned themselves carefully along the brook where it was narrowest, prepared to make their way across. They handed a rope to Lanna who made a great ‘salmon leap’ over the river, landing gracefully in the snow with a flourish of her cape, and quickly tied the rope securely to a tree. They tied the other end to another tree on their side, and with that and two other ropes they managed to make their way one by one over the precarious crossing, and landed safely on the other side. All except for Praymar, who unluckily fell headlong into the water and injured his leg on a sharp rock. Lanna ran to him as they hauled him gasping out of the freezing water. She tried to bandage his wound, but poor luck and a mother's frantic nerves pestered them further and she found herself unable to help him effectively. His father, however, was steady of heart, a determined man, and once he put his hand to it he bandaged his son's wounds and restored his ability to walk. He bundled Praymar in blankets and Lanna, who always seemed to have something useful in her sack, handed him a change of dry cloths. It was now getting dark. The party quietly made their way to the edge of the woods and peered out across the snow drifts. The guards had lit several torches and occupied the bridge. To the east a tall cliff was on the other side of the drifts, about a hundred feet away, hugged along its base by a snow shrouded pine forest.

Evasion in the Dark

Since they were cautious and had crossed over into a clump of trees the men on the bridge had not spotted the heroes. When a patrol passed along the path near by, the adventurer’s were concealed, and remained undetected. Once night time had sufficiently fallen Praymar with his uncanny ability to see perfectly in the dark lead them steathily over the drifts and along the base of the cliff through the forest so that they skirted the bridge entirely.

After they had walked some ways past the bridge they relaxed and came out of the forest onto the road. There they stood congratulating one another in whispers as they looked up and down the road for any guards, but there were none. All of those rough thugs were clustered on the bridge, and most of them had leaned their backs against the wooden railing and had gone to sleep for the night in their blankets, while only a few stood watch, and those could not see far in the darkness. Praymar reported on the disposition of the guards, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They had escaped the vale of the Prancing Unicorn unscathed after all.

And so they made their way quietly down the road toward the south, when they came upon a three-way fork where the road from the vale intercepted the north south road that went between Hobbington and the northern villages of Fenton, and Bear Claw. Hermel thought of Hornmel, his cousin, and wondered how he was faring on his journey to meet the old Kung Fu teacher at Bear Claw Village, and hoped he would not have too many troubles on the road alone. Bantum, who had managed to quiet all of the chickens for their stealthy get away, with considerable help from Dr. Chickenhiemer though he did not know it, noticed a light coming from the woods along the base of the cliff further south. He tapped Star on the shoulder and pointed. Dr. Chickenhiemer had helped Bantum to keep silent too, and that was a good thing indeed, as usually the youthful giant would have made a loud exclamation at seeing anything out of the ordinary. Dr. Chickenhiemer kept Bantum steady with a low whispered “Cluuuuuuck", least the guards on the bridge be alerted by the kind hearted moron.

Praymar wondered how the beautiful young woman in the black cape was faring. For some reason he imagined that she was much like he was, the sort of person who craved drinking the delicious gut-blood of dying men. He rehearsed her name, Mae, to himself a few times, and hoped she was back at her home safe and sound. She lived in the same hamlet as he did, and it gave him something to look forward to that he might peep at her again sometime. Little did he realize then what danger she was actually in! Or vice verse, perhaps.

And then the moon came out from behind the clouds, casting silvery rays across the white landscape, as huge shadows sailed eerily over the forested hills for as far as the eye could see. In the distance a lone wolf howled long against the silver moon.

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Previous Episode: Battle of Dragon Bridge - Part I
Next Episode: Return of the Hapless Hobbits - Part I

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Battle of Dragon Bridge – Part I

The Archers of Dragon Bridge

The winds blew over the snow enshrouded forest, the trees swaying and creaking, as the party of heroes fought a courageous battle against the archers on the high rocks. Bantum plowed through the snow towards Praymar and Ben who were crouching behind two trees hoping to avoid being hit by the far flying arrows from above. Lanna and Star of Justice followed behind him, dodging behind trees and rocks as they dashed forward.

From the high cliff on the south side Hermel and Arik bound the archer they had subdued and Hermel took his bow and quiver of arrows. He felt that he could hit the archer on the opposing rock, whom he could see was firing at his friends below. Meanwhile Praymar and the others crept forward through the trees toward the base of the rocky hill on which the archer had situated himself.

There was a brief firefight. Arik stood in front of Hermel with his shield raised as high as he could while Hermel aimed. Twak. A miss. The archer, who had not yet noticed his companion's defeat, fired again at Praymar, hitting him in the arm with a long black shafted arrow.

“Oh Shit!” Praymar shouted in his squeaky voice, his white hair and skin spattered with blood.

“Now son,” answered Ben sternly, “getting hit with an arrow is no excuse for cursing.”

“Oh gosh, dad, I’m sorry,” said Praymar grimacing as Ben yanked the arrow out and covering the bleeding wound with a bit of cloth.

Hermel, having sighted the archer on the opposing rock, prepared to take his shot.

“Hold steady. Draw back. Take a deep breath…” Hermel was saying to himself as he drew the bow. He let the arrow fly with a sharp 'twang'. High into the air it arched, and curving just so in the winter wind... it wafted downward and with an audible ‘thwap’ hit the archer in the arm. His cry echoed from the surrounding hills.

Ben took the opportunity to sprint through the snow toward the base of the hill as the archer fell to one knee. The others trailed through the snow behind him, as when Ben pours his mystic power into sprinting he picks up an amazing speed. As they ran forward the archer drew the arrow from his arm with a grunt, and threw it down. He turned towards Hermel, pulled an arrow from his quiver and aimed it. Arik, seeing this, stood stoutly in front of his friend with his shield raised. The arrow 'Thhhhhunked' into Ariks shield.

“Is that the best you got?” shouted Arik across the chasm between them. The archer on the far rock cursed, and drew another arrow. Hermel was already cocked and ready to fire. His arrow flew high across the chasm and hit the archer between the shoulder and the neck. The man went down with a groan and a curse.

“If you throw down your bow, we won’t kill you!” shouted Arik across wind blown the distance. “You can’t hit us, but we can hit you! If you put down your bow, we’ll let you go!” he added with a little flourish of his hand, thinking that wasn’t such a bad rhyme. He was starting to enjoy the whole poetry thing he had learned from the Earth creatures they’d met in Underland.

The man, looking pale, tossed his bow a few feet from himself and sat down in the snow next to a tree. Hermel decided to untie the archer that was at his feet and stripping him of his armor and weapons, sent him on his way.

“If you run back to the inn, you probably won’t freeze to death,” said Hermel, and the man, relieved to be let go alive, took off with a curt bow and mumbled thanks.

The adventurers made their way to base of the cliff where the second archer was and found an interceding channel of fast flowing water, mostly frozen over. They found a set of rocks that were above the water line by which they could ford. Climbing over carefully they found themselves at the base of a cliff, an so wound their way along the edge of the brook pressing against the cliff wall until they came to a trail that climbed the stones to the top. They followed the trail and within a few minutes climbed to the top. There they found a cluster of snow covered pine trees, and the archer sitting against one of them panting heavily. Blood soaked the snow around him.

“Now what are we going to do with you?” asked Hermel of the lean and grizzly archer panting at his feet.

“… I was … going to … ask you that…” replied the man rasping between breaths.

“Ok, well, I think the first thing you need is some medical attention,” answered Hermel. The man looked surprised as the good hearted adventurer bent down and dressed his wounds, and used his mystical healing stone to provide comfort and relief to his punctured flesh.

“I’m wounded too,” mentioned Praymar in his squeaky little voice as he followed up from behind.

“Oh, well… um… sure, sure, we should heal the weird little red-eyed kid, too, I think,” stammered Arik as he went over, a little reluctantly, to help Praymar. Lanna came up quickly to him and held his head in her arms as she tried to dress his wounds. However, in her haste and distress she wound up fumbling around and dropped the bandages in the snow. Star of Justice came up and dressed his wound.

“What are you two archers doing up here, anyway?” asked Hermel.

“We’re following our orders, which are to keep anyone from leaving the vale,” answered the archer.

“Well what if I order you to leave us alone, will that work?” asked Hermel.

“Um, well you beat me for sure, and you healed me, too. I’d have to say I’m obliged, so yes, that would work,” replied the man humbly. It was decided to let him go. The archer, getting to his feet with an unsteady wobble, straightened himself up, and noticed in fact that he felt quite a bit better.  And so he stumbled off toward the path that led down the cliff side, and planned to take himself for a nice long bath and meal and ale at the Inn after all.

“Aye, that we did,” stated Arik with a mixture of pride and resignation as he watched the man disappear down the trail, not well convinced it was such a great idea to let the archers go.

The Unbelievable Attack

From their commanding position on the heights they looked down below and saw a cluster of men occupying the Dragon Bridge ahead of them. They could see two men in cloaks standing on the middle of the bridge, and before them were four more men wearing shields and carrying swords. Arik looked around to see if he could find a good spot from the cliff’s edge to fire arrows down on the men holding the bridge. There was no other way out of the vale than to pass over the Dragon Bridge.  It peeved him greatly.

There was a brief discussion about what to do next. The archers that they let go could cause them trouble, mentioned Arik, suggesting that they might bring back another troop of fighters from the Inn once they got there.

“Well, by the time they get back from the Inn it will be at least a half hour,” squeaked Praymar, “and I will be finished feasting on the bowels of their friends.” Everyone turned around to stare at him. He gave a very innocent smile. Ben hit him across the top of his head.

“Cut that out, Praymar. Not everyone appreciates your sense of humor,” he said sternly.

“Aw, dad… no one even pays any attention to me when I’m wounded… so what’s the difference?” pouted Praymar, losing his smile and kicking at the snow.

“I can see that there’s no way to get a good line of site on those men at the bridge from up here,” commented Arik. “Too many trees in the way for a good shot.  Our only choice is to march down there. Perhaps if we chop down a tree to span the brook before the bridge we can sidle along the other side of the cliff base and try to surprise them from behind.”

That idea, though was not embraced with any enthusiasm from the others. “Well, we could try climbing the other cliff and then rain down arrows on them from over there,” said Arik pointing to another cliff that loomed over the bridge. That idea, which depended on chopping down a tree to ford the brook, also garnered little enthusiasm.

“Pehaps we should talk to them before we attack them,” suggested Star. “After all, they do not have bows, and we have three long bows now,” he added.

“If they retreat we don’t want them heading south toward Hobbington. If they do they’ll be harassing us all the way to the township. We don’t want that,” said Hermel.

“Perhaps we should form a shield wall, and approach them while firing arrows, and then when we get close enough we’ll charge forward and take them out,” offered Arik. Hermel sighed, and began to sulk.

“Lets send one person forward to discuss things while everyone else waits off to the side in the woods. We’ll try to convince them to get out of our way, and if that doesn’t work… well, then we’ll just have to blaze our way through,” responded Hermel with a great long sigh, and stony stare.  With this Hermel convinced them all that his plan was worth adhering to. “It’s good to know that my sulking skill still works,” thought Hermel to himself as they walked, concealing his mouth with his arm while smiling secretly. He managed to keep his eyes, however, fixed with the stony stare, so no one was the wiser.

It was decided that Hermel should be the one to go ahead on the trail and make the proposal. They climbed down the cliff, trudged through the snow back to the ford, crossed the freezing brook, and made their way through the snow to an area of forest closest to road. They passed through the trees and came to the road.  It was covered with snow, but at least it was packed down and easier to walk on.

“Honey,” said Lanna to Ben. “Let me borrow that magnificent bow of yours, 'Shar', and you can use one of the long bows we’ve captured. It would give me a better chance of hitting those bad men.”

“I’m sorry darling,” replied Ben with a smile, “but you know how many times I told you to practice your archery, and you have been really quite lazy about it. So I’m not inclined to give you ‘Shar’. She's a bit tricky to use, and you might break her string,” he said with a wry smile. She hit him, hard, on the arm, but he didn’t relent. She pouted. But Ben, her husband, was immune to that as well. And so Lanna took the long bow with a 'harumph', and they all followed him into the woods as Hermel approached the men on the bridge.

“Listen up,” shouted Hermel from somewhere around one hundred feet away, putting his shield to the side, and holding his longbow square in his left hand.  "You men are to abandon the bridge.  Come to this side and cross over to your left, and head to that clump of trees over there," he said pointing.

“You listen,” said one of the two men in cloaks on the center of the bridge. “Go back. No one is allowed to leave the vale. Return to the Inn and you will not be harmed.”

“Shoot,” said Hermel to himself, annoyed that his ploy didn’t work. The fighting men on the bridge took their shields and braced them in front of themselves to form a shield wall. Hermel drew an arrow from his quiver and knocked the bow. The other members of the party, seeing how things were going, prepared to form their own shield wall, and knocked their arrows as Lanna and Ben stepped out onto the road to flank Hermel.

The two cloaked men on the bridge began chanting ominously, and waving their arms in the air. The fighters who formed the shield wall braced themselves.

There was a stirring in the trees to the north of the party. The trees shook suddenly, large plumes of snow falling to the ground with a 'Thhhhruuuusssshhh'. Hermel could not see anything, and said, “Ok, no problem. Whatever it is they tried, they missed.  Hah.”

A light blue mist came billowing out from the trees and covered the ground up to the hero’s ankles. Praymar turned to the trees and sought to Sense Danger with his mystic senses.  With his mind focused on the area of the trees from which they heard the shaking he did indeed sense ... great ... big ... Danger.

Great Bird of Prey

“Oh gosh,” cried Praymar to the group, “there’s something dangerous in those trees!” As they watched a very large blue eagle rose above the tree line. It was enormous in fact, perhaps the size of an elephant. It had a blue sheen of crystals glinting from its wings, and its eyes looked to be made of blue ice. Pale mist poured out of the sides of its mouth.

“Pretty birdie!” cried Bantum.

“I disbelieve the bird,” said Arik to himself and closed his eyes. When he opened them again in a moment, he was annoyed to see that the great blue crystalish eagle was still there, and lofting towards them. It landed on top of two trees, causing snow to drop in a huge curtain with a roar as the monster gripped their tops in its two massive blue talons. It gave an ear shattering ‘Screeeeee’.

“It’s magic,” shouted Hermel to his companions. “We hide in the trees and wait it out!”

The party retreated into the trees. The forest was very dense with the branches of the pine trees being close the ground, and the trees set close to each other, and thus it was difficult for them to move into the forest. They ran short ways back on the road and wound their way down a small path into a snow shrouded clearing. Hermel found a spot in the trees from which he could shoot into the sky and waited for the bird to fly overhead.

With another ear shattering ‘Screeeeee’ the bird poured forth a billowing cone of pale blue mist from its mouth, covering the tree next to Hermel, freezing it solid. The stalwart worthy crouched down in the snow, trying to stay on the opposite side of the tree from the gigantic bird.

The bird launched itself into the air and flew after the party who had arrived in the clearing. It flew over their heads and landed about sixty feet in front of them on an open patch of snow. Praymar ran towards the bird. Lanna ran after him, crying out (slow-motion sequence here please), “Prrraaaaaayyyyyymmmmmaaaaarrrrrrr…. NoooooooooOOOOOOooooooooooo…” as she tried to position herself to take a shot at the bird with her bow.  Ben was just coming through the trees and had no time to take any action. Star called upon Eldrik to bring down his wrath upon the terrible creature. As Bantum ran into the clearing, Dr. Chickenheimer managed to twist himself around to get a good look at his gigantic cousin.

“Hmmm…,” thought Chickenhiemer, “That is no ordinary bird! In fact, that is no bird at all!” But his advanced comprehension did none of them any good, as he could only communicate to Bantum, who was dumber than dirt, and hardly understood ten percent of what he was told, and certainly had no ability to pay attention in a crisis situation such as this. So Dr. Chickenhiemer hung his head with a resigned cluck, and concealed himself beneath his wings, as did all the other chickens dangling precariously from Bantums bandoleer.

“By the Might of Eldrik, thou icy fowl, may you be swept back to your icy perch, never to darken our fair brows again!” cried out Star, raising his hands up toward the sky. At that moment the clouds parted and a ray of sunlight beamed forth through the dark gap, striking the crystalline wings, which the great icy eagle swung to cover its face. The beam of sunlight was so fierce that the reflection hitting the nearby trees began to smoke, sizzling away the snow away into clouds of steam.

Arik hurled his hatchet with a massive effort, hitting the great creature in a wing, breaking a feather with a shattering sound.

“How do you like that, frosty?!” he shouted gleefully. “There’s plenty more where that came from!”

Star felt that Eldrik’s power had overwhelmed the monstrous eagle, and watched as it launched itself into the air, flying backwards. At this point Ben had emerged from the trees, and knocked an arrow in his famous bow, ‘Shar’. The bow itself was quite heavy, made of iron wood inlaid with animal designs and Runes of Power, Speed and Accuracy. Lanna and Praymar quickly moved out of his path of fire.

The horrible blue eagle spread its wings and filled its chest with a huge breath of air. With its icy blue eyes glinting, it billowed forth with a wide cone of mystical blue mist. The nature of this mystical attack is such that shields and armors are of no use, as the deadly nature of such spells is not to the body, but to the mind, the heart and the soul. Bantum was in the path of the blue billowing mist, as was Lanna, while Praymar luckily managed to dart out of the way, his mind quickly evading the dreadful compulsion. Frost covered the two of them, but what happened really in their spirits was an assault of dreadful icy fear, paralyzing their hearts, draining their will to fight, and even, potentially driving them insane. Fortunately, their mystic energies were able to absorb some of the shock, and Lanna quickly wrapped herself in her cloak and rubbed her hands together, shaking off the worst of the fear through a sheer dint of will. Fortunately for Bantum, he was only grazed by billowing cone, and in his own stupid way, was barely influenced by the icy fear after all.  The blue eagle was surprised how difficult it was to influence Bantum's sub-functional mind.  "Cluck," said Dr. Chickenhiemer from behind his wings.

Ben, seeing Lanna covered over in the cone of frosty mist, removed two black stones from his pouch and rubbing them quickly against his leather britches with one in each hand smacked them together as hard as he could. A bright blue spark of lightning shot forth and hit the giant bird on hits head, staggering it backwards. Arik was vigorously rubbing his beard with both of his hands, and taking aim with the small iron rod he carried for just this purpose, also shot forth a blue-white arrow of lightning, hitting the monstrous eagle's shoulder, shuddering it visibly, and shattering two of its crystalline feathers. Star once again summoned Elrik’s might, and again the clouds parted and a beam of sunlight shone down upon the dreadful icy eagle, causing it’s feathers to smolder with steam, and forcing it to fly backwards toward the shade of the nearby trees.

At that moment Dr. Chickenhiemer flew up onto Bantum’s head and cried out with a gigantic sounding “Cockadoodle Doooooo!!!” forcing the creature backwards.  And so it flew up into the air backwards, flying further and further away until the great dreadful Frost Eagle became a dark blue cloud and vanished from view.  Everyone heaved a huge sigh of relief!  Dr. Chickenhiemer clucked away merrily, and hopped into Bantum’s arms. 

Hermel came out from his sniper hole, and listening carefully heard only the sounds of the wind. He followed the tracks of his friends through the snow into the clearing where he found them heaving and panting, and looking unusually bedraggled.

Dr. Chickenhiemer then turned and looked at the weary party. He shook his head, and clucked away to Bantum who could only understand a little of what the brilliant Doctor was saying. What he said, in fact, was that the party fell directly into the Wizard’s trap, and used up a considerable amount of their mystic powers on defending themselves from a mere illusion. He could dispel it finally when it had taken enough mystical damage from Eldrik’s Might, and the combined mystic attacks of the heroes to weaken it sufficiently. His “Cockadoodle Doo” broke the spell.

And so it was that the party now found themselves facing two Wizards, guarded by warriors in a highly defensible position on the Dragon Bridge.

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Previous Episode:  Interlude: The Unexpected Rendezvous
Next Episode: Battle of Dragon Bridge - Part II

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Lion Statues In The Salt Mine

Down in the Salt Mine below the Prancing Unicorn Inn, our heroes found in the darkness two great Lion Statues and they looked something like these...

Dragon On The Edge

After the game I went to review the Experience Gains Sheet that was kept this session by Charles.  Lo!   A Dragon!   Nicely done, Charles!   Let's just hope it is a friendly dragon after all... ;)

Flight from Unicorn Vale

The Sudden Departure

For a few moments the canary fluttered around Hermel’s head, whistling a cheerful song, before alighting onto a rung of the ladder.   In the smoke and embers that were circulating in the air from the fire above, she seemed to transform into a three inch tall pretty blond girl with gossamer wings.  Hermel rubbed his eyes and looked again.  She fluttered her wings a few times and smiled.  Then with a sudden leap she flew directly to Hermel’s face, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.   Delighted she flew around in a little circle, and then flew away down into the dark mine.

Hermel called out after her but she vanished into the darkness and was gone. He listened intently. From the darkness he heard footsteps approaching. Not wishing to wait and find out to whom they belonged, Hermel climbed the ladder and hoisted himself out of the hole. There was snow on the ground, and covering the pine forest round about. The burned out barn had collapsed completely, and all that was left of it was smoldering ruins with a few spots still burning, casting smoke and embers into the air. In the distance he saw the Prancing Unicorn Inn. There were a few people still milling about putting out the last of the flames, but there was no sign of Hermel’s companions.

Ibis happen to have been at the Inn tending to Korfu who was in bed feverishly sleeping. Praymar had gone with his mother Lanna and his father Ben who had decided to leave the valley and head back to the mysterious Gray Serpent Cave where they’d lost their friends. Star was downstairs in the tavern tending to the wounded. He was not able to save everyone, however, and a few men died of injuries and smoke inhalation. One of the miners had been very badly wounded, crushed by a boulder. The man, Star realized, could not be saved. Before he died, the man gripped Star by the arm, and with blood sputtering from his lips, he took small leather parcel from his vest, and pressed it into Star’s hand.

“Take this to … uuuuuggghhh…” said the man with his least breath.

“Take this to … ‘uhhhhgggghhhh…? Who is ‘uhhhhhggggghhhh’?”, asked Star, but the man was already dead. Without looking at the contents of the parcel, he said the man’s last rights, and went on to help the next miner, whose injuries were such that he could be saved. Star, after that, veritably forgot about the parcel in his haste to help the other victims.

Back at the barn, Hermel heard familiar voices call up from the hole behind him.

“Hello!” shouted Arik.

“Hi!” called Bantum.

Hermel was confused. He couldn’t understand how they wound up being behind him in the mine.

“Hello!” he called down, glad to see them. “Where have you been?”

“We went for a drink somewhere at a Dwarven pub with Thorvain!” shouted Arik merrily as he climbed the ladder and heaved himself out of the hole.

“It was pretty!” said Bantum following behind him. “We ate real good!”

Hermel was very surprised to think that there was a pub in the mine somewhere. In fact, he had trouble quite believing any of it until Bantum said “Look what I got!” and lifted up his bright and shining Dwarven warhammer that he’d received from Thorvain as a gift.

“We have to go,” said Hermel tersely.

“Where to?” asked Arik.

“Hobbington, and as soon as possible,” replied Hermel earnestly.

They walked toward the Inn, and as they approached Star happened to notice them out the window. He put down the bandages he was wrapping, having finished tending to the last injured miner and went outside onto the porch to hail the party members as they came walking up. Meanwhile Ibis had come downstairs as well, and so the members of the adventure group conferred with each other as to what to do next. Hermel was anxious to leave the area as soon as possible; feeling strongly that life expectancy for them all was to be measured in minutes as long as they were within the vale. The last cryptic words of Joe Ricci down in the mine served to convince him that the adventurers were already known suspects among those who controlled the mine. He did not want to wait long enough to find out if his theory was correct.

The Ibis Stratagem

Ibis, however, had other plans.

“I’m going to stay here,” said Ibis. “Korfu is too ill to be moved, and I also have interest in whatever it is that is going on down in the mine. There is a mystery afoot, and I find myself curious to discover more about it,” he said with determination. “I will catch up with you later on.”

As Hermel was anxious for them to escape the vale as quickly as possible, he did not spend much time arguing with Ibis about it. He simply recounted his most recent adventure, and that there were serious dangers in the mine, alluding to his capture and escape from “dangerous persons” who lurked below.

Ibis was not persuaded by this to alter his resolve to enter the mine and find Joe. He felt that he should  apologize to him, thinking that making a friend on the inside of the mine would help him to uncover the mystery more efficiently. He intended to go down in the mine right away, seek out Joe, make his apologies and establish a friendly rapport with the man.

“Where can I meet you in Hobbington when I get there?” asked Ibis of Star. “I hope to follow on behind you as soon as I can,” he said.

“You can find me at the Temple of Eldrik whenever I reside in the township,” replied Star.

“Ibis, you’re probably going to be the death of yourself, and me as well," said Hermel.  "I hope you realize that you’re going to put all of us in danger if you lurk around here sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“No,” said Ibis, “you’re not going to be here, since you’re leaving.”

“Oh I’m sure you won’t intentionally do anything wrong, but if you’re captured and tortured, you will naturally reveal our party’s destination, and put us in jeopardy.”

“Well,” said Arik, responding to Hermel’s point, “we will all be together, and with our new equipment from Thorvain, Bantum and I at least are a force to reckon with! And I have to say, you’re a pretty hardy fighter yourself by now, Hermel,” he concluded.

“I suppose so,” replied Hermel not entirely convinced.

“You know, caution is one thing, but don’t you think you’re being a little paranoid?’ asked Star.

“No, not at all,” answered Hermel. “In fact, lets go.”

“We’re not going to take skinny man with us?’ asked Bantum puzzled by the party split.

“No,” answered Arik, “skinny man is going to follow along behind us later. He needs to rest. Don’t worry, he’s got those skinny legs. He’ll catch up fast.”

“Oh, ok”, said Bantum resigned to not understanding.  He petted Dr. Chickenhiemer and looked to see where everyone else would go.  As the group was talking outside the Prancing Unicorn, Lanna and Ben came trudging through the snow towards them along with their albino son Praymar.

“I just want to say ‘Thank you’, before we leave,” said Lanna to the group. “You helped rescue my husband a second time and we feel a debt of gratitude. But we also feel it’s best to leave immediately, and we wish to go back to the Gray Serpent Cave now that Bantum helped us to learn the secret of how to open the secret tunnel. Our friends may be in danger there, and we must see if we can find them. So, thank you, and farewell.”

“You’re welcome,” said Bantum.

“You’ve been very helpful, Bantum. Thank you,” said Lanna warmly.

“You’re a nice lady,” replied Bantum, looking down at her happily. Ben, limping from an injury in the mine, came and shook each of the adventurers’ hands and thanked all of them.

“Well, good bye, Ben, nice meeting you. That’s a hell of a wife you got there,” said Hermel as they shook hands.

“Well, I think so, too … thanks… uh,” replied Ben not quite sure if he’d been complemented or not. In any case, seeing his limp, Star asked if Ben might want him to take a look at his leg. In a few minutes Star used his medical skills to bind the wound and provide some relief from the pain with an herbal balm. “Almost good as new” said Ben afterwards, stomping his foot down a couple of times appreciatively.  "I don't know how to repay you," he said, "but I'll find a way somehow."

"Don't mention it, please," replied Star politely.

“We’d best be getting along,” Ben said to Lanna and Praymar, and with that they turned and began heading up the path to the gap in the hills which lead out of the Unicorn Vale.

“Good bye all,” said Praymar to the adventurers. No one replied. He said “Good bye all,” again a couple of times in his high squeaky voice.

“Uh… good bye…,” said Arik finally, “…weird bear people…”

Praymar Acknowledged

Hermel, realizing that no one had wanted to say good bye to odd little Praymar hurried after them and shook his hand saying, “Praymar, I underestimated you at first, but you did go down the shaft and freed the miners, so I want to say thank you. Don’t worry if people look askance at your appearance in life. Your merits will eventually shine through in people’s eyes, I’m sure.”

“Oh thank you for saying so,” said Praymar excited that someone had finally acknowledged him. “I’m just glad that someone listened to me and that my dad and the others were saved,” he answered sincerely and shook Hermel’s hand in his surprisingly crushing grip.

“Well, sure sure… uh… you still creep me out, but you did well in the mine, and … so … uh, thanks,” Hermel said wrenching his hand free before it was accidentally crushed by the enthusiastic little albino boy. Praymar’s eyes flashed red and he smiled.

"I have to say, you give me the heeby-jeebies, too, there, Praymar," said Arik, "but you did a good job rescuing my buddy Thorvain and the rest.  We Dwarves owe you something for that.  In fact, keep your freakish red eyes peeled for Thorvain.  He mentioned along the way that he intends to try to catch up with you some time and thank you personally.  I wouldn't be surprised if his doing so turns out rather handsomely for you, young fellow," he said with a wink.

“Well, it’s time we get going,” said Hermel. Turning around looked at Ibis who was standing a little ways off back toward the Prancing Unicorn Inn.

“Good bye Ibis. Take care of yourself and Korfu, and try not to get captured and tortured too much, ok? And good luck with whatever it is you’re planning to do, anyway,” he said, not in the least bit suspecting the vastly sinister plan that Ibis had been planning and plotting ever so slowly and carefully for so many years.

And with their final ‘good byes’ they parted from Ibis and headed down the snow-laden path towards the gap in the hills where the wooden bridge lead out of the vale. They passed the steaming bathing pool on their right and walked through the forest about a mile. It was sunny, but the air was bitter cold and a wind howled through the trees casting long mists of snow along the hill's rocky ridges. As they walked Star looked around in every direction. In fact the entire vale was surrounded on all sides by steep slopes topped with pine trees, and he surmised that the vale itself must be a crater from which there was a single gap through which one might enter or leave. “Quite a strategic location, actually,” he thought to himself, as he peered along the slopes. “No wonder Ibis likes it here, with all his military conjectures and whatnot. Seems the ideal place for him to write his treatise ‘On the Defenses of Mountain Villages and Townships’,” he thought.

The Unknown History of Chickens

As they trudged through the snow Dr. Chickenhiemer was reminiscing.  It was not well known that the very first encounter with chickens among human kind had occurred a very long time ago when a great human General had come upon Dr. Chickenhiemer and his arch-rival, Senior Chickenduku, one blazing hot  morning along the side of a road in the land of the Breex near the sea. The General, whose name was Thamocles, was on his way to confront a gigantic army of invading Derxian forces, and yet had taken the time to observe the two cocks engaging in a fierce battle. He stopped to watch the two cocks fighting and summoned his troops, saying: “Behold, these do not fight for their household gods, for the monuments of their ancestors, for glory, for liberty or the safety of their children, but only because one will not give way to the other.” With that Thamocles and his army were inspired by this display of primal aggression, and marched off to the coast where they went on to defeat the Derxian forces invading the land of the Breex, saving all of Western Civilization from subjugation at the hands of the brutal Obsidion Empire which had risen in the South East during that dark Age. Even to this day, Doctor Chickenhiemer is amused when he remembers that the General had entirely failed to understand what the two cocks had actually been fighting about. It was not merely that Senior Chickenduku would not give way, which he certainly would not, but that he had been conducting a terrible ceremony on behalf of the Obsidion Emperor for the prior eleven weeks, which was on the verge of completion. Had Dr. Chickenhiemer not courageously disrupted it then the Breex would have found themselves entirely destroyed by a ten day rain of flaming hail stones as soon as their army entered the coastal region. Instead, the flaming hailstorm was diverted to the western desert where the Jinn live; killing many of them. Senior Chickenduku’s plan backfired on him and after that the Jinn cursed him, and the wicked Chickenmancer was forced to vanish into obscurity, and probably wound up in a cooking pot somewhere. And so it was that the Western World was saved that day long, long ago, and Dr. Chickenhiemer had been granted an Earldom on the slopes of Mount Palamir. Had his wing allowed himself to do so Dr. Chickenhiemer would have patted himself on the back. He clucked a little chuckle to himself as Bantum carried him in his enormous left arm. As to what happened in the subsequent centuries to his Earldom, his famous bride and their many adventures and discoveries, which would be far too much to cover here in this story, let it suffice to say that Dr. Chickenhiemer had seen and done a great many things, and that his adventures were far from over.  But then he began brooding again about how things had turned out after all with the humans, and once again questioned how it was that the chicken race, so proud and courageous, became food.  It annoyed him tremendously as usual, and he went back to his ruminations on how to remedy the situation somehow.

Ibis Takes a Leap in the Dark

Ibis returned to the Inn and looked in on Korfu who was still sleeping. He decided that it was a good time for him to head back down into the mine in order to apologize to the mechanic Joe Ricci. Since he planned to leave the valley as soon as possible he did not want to delay. He went to the barn and climbed down the broken ladder into the tunnel. He smelled a slight trace of gas in the air he decided against lighting a torch. And so thinking that he knew the way reasonably well he made his way by crawling through the mine slowly expecting to find Joe in short order. It was soon pitch black. He came to the stairs going down and made his way slowly holding to the right hand wall as he went. He turned the corner and went what seemed like a far distance, stumbling here and there over rubble and broken wood. The smell of gas was a bit stronger here.

“Hey Joe!” he called out into the darkness. “If you hear me, throw me some light! I came down to apologize to you about what I said earlier!” There was no answer from the echoing black corridor. He turned the corner where he believed he should find the iron gate and two lion statues. Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching him.

“Joe? Is that you?” he asked the darkness. There was no answer but the footsteps came up to him rapidly.

“Halt!” yelled Ibis when the footsteps had come within five feet. Suddenly he felt a sharp painful whack to the back of his head, and yellow stars flashed in his eyes, and he fell to the ground unconscious.

Ibis found himself in the the familiar dark cavern. There was the little red man standing on the other side of the fire that came out of the hole in the ground. The black tripod with the bronze brazier on it held a pile of feather dolls.

“What was that?!” demanded a little red man with a bristly black look as he adjusted the round bronze glasses on his crooked nose. “I try so hard … and what do you do? Throw yourself down a dark hole!”

“The relics call to me. Their power is of the ancient Elkron. They are worth the risk,” replied Ibis coolly.

“Perhaps,” said the little red devil.

“Can you help me?” asked Ibis.

“Not from here,” said the little red devil and with that he leaped into the hole and vanished with a cackling laugh. Ibis threw a feather doll into the fire. From far below he heard the sound of laughter falling away quickly into dark silence.

Meanwhile, back at the Inn, Korfu began having a very strange dream of his own. He found himself wandering through a vast desert of small round stones and redish colored sand, and coming upon a gigantic stone hand sticking out of the ground some thirty six feet into the blazing sky above. The ground was shimmering with heat. On the top of each finger was a scarlet flame. In the palm of the hand was an inscription, which read, in a language that Korfu somehow recognized, “You have come to the Palace of the Red Desert Jinn. Be Thou Crushed”. He touched the hand and said some words in the same obscure language. How he knew them he could not remember. A doorway opened at the base of the hand, and he saw inside small chamber in which there was a spiral stair going down. He went inside and climbed downward for a long time until and found himself in a cavern. He wandered in the darkness. Eventually he came to a large cavernous chamber with a fire flickering from a hole in the ground. He saw next to it was a brazen bowl on black tripod, in which he saw what looked like a pile of feathers.

Spotting the Tree-Rat

Far away the party was trudging through the snow toward the wooden bridge that lead out of the vale. Star was saying, “You know, that Ibis is a pretty smart guy. I’m sure he will be ok.” At this Lanna took a look back over her shoulder and rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, in a clump of trees on top of a tall thin hill about three hundred feet ahead, Star spotted a man with a long bow concealing himself behind a tall old pine in the snow. He quickly scanned along the slopes around them and spotted on the far side opposite another tall narrow hill also about three hundred feet from the trail on which he saw another man with a long bow also concealed in a cluster of pine trees.

Not wishing to give away that he’s spotted the men in the trees he walked calmly over to Hermel and Arik and quietly whispered, “It’s a trap. There are men with bows in the hills.”

“Where!?!” shouted Bantum looking around in every direction. “Where are they?”

“The squirrel is over there!” Star shouted, pointing to a tree.

“I want to play with it!” said Bantum excitedly, following behind Arik.

“It’s there!’ It’s a tree rat! Its in its nest!” shouted Arik loudly, pointing to a tree back up behind them along the trail. “Come on Bantum, lets go look at it,” and he took Bantum with him over to the tree where a squirrel happen to be making a panicked dash up the tree. Everyone followed behind, gaining cover from the archers. They were now all clustered together in a clump of pine trees. The squirrel gave a quick wave to Dr. Chickenhiemer, and then leaped onto the branch of another tree, and made his way off into the forest.

“I can scout ahead and try to sneak up on one of the archers,” offered Praymar.

“No,” said Hermel. “We’re all looking at the squirrel. Lets just stick with that for now while we plan this out, ok? Now we need to figure out a way to sneak up on the archers and get the drop on them, right?”

“Mom, can I go scout ahead? I’ll be careful,” said Praymar to Lanna. She looked at Hermel, and replied that he certainly could, but he must go with his father, and be very careful. Hermel sighed and stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets. And so Praymar and Ben headed off in a round about direction to go scout out the archer on the southern hill.

Arik's First Earth Walk

“While Bantum and I were recently with Thorvain, he showed me a very interesting technique known to the Dwarves that allows us to travel through the earth,” said Arik quietly, looking around the side of the tree at one of the men on the rocky hill. “We can use it to make our way to that man, I think, and gain surprise.”

What Thorvain had taught him was that Earth Walking allows a Dwarve, and a guest or two perhaps, to walk through the earth in any direction up to three hundred and sixty feet. “Now the thing about it”, had said Thorvain, “ is that you’ll be walking through the Earth Realm of Minvar and the Earth Elkron. You might meet others along the way, and some might be friendly, while others might be unfriendly, or neither. It’s risky to use if you are not walking along an Earth Road, which is also known as a Ley Line by some wizards. The other thing to know is that time flows differently in the Earth Realm. No time at all will pass in the outer world. But you only have a limited amount of time to go from the Earth Door at the beginning of your path to the Earth Door at the far end. Any stone can serve as an Earth Door, and you pick it by looking at it as you cast the incantation. Once in the Earth Realm you see clues as to the way you must go to find the other door. It will not be a straight line, so stay alert. Sometimes you’ll see a glow on the ground, or a special kind of stone, or some other sign. You’ll know the sign when you see it. Use Earth Walking when you are in dire straights, lad. It’s saved me more than once, and you can bet your beard on that.”

Arik explained these stipulations to Hermel.

“Can you really do this?” asked Hermel, deeply concerned.

“Of course! I’m a Dwarve damit! We do this sort of thing all the time!”

“Oh, and Dwarves can fly?” replied Hermel skeptically.

“Oh ok! I admit I can’t fly. But it’s not my fault Omri decreed that Dwarves should be too sturdy and stocky to fly!” said Arik, finally admitting that all of his claims about flying were actually Dwarven jesting. “Don’t worry, Hermel. It will work. We may get bogged down in some underworld adventure, but even if we do, as long as we survive that we’ll show up at the far Earth Door in a second, no matter how long we spend down there.”

Hermel’s look was one of absolute incredulous shock.

“Look, ok. I know the theory. I’ve never done it myself, but I know I can do it. There’s nothing to worry about. We’ll be up on that ledge next to the archer in the blink of Ormi’s eye. Now help me to find a stone around here!” said Arik, now eager to try out his new power.

Hermel’s lips moved, but no words came out. He blinked a few times.

“Come on! Snap out of it!” said Arik. “You’re the one who wanted to get the drop on these guys. Are we going to do this or not?”

“Well when I had that idea, I thought you could fly. Not walk through rock. That’s totally different and much less … uh… believable … somehow…” replied Hermel.

“Like I said, it’s not my fault. Omri gives and Omri takes away. Once upon a time Dwarves could fly, maybe. But I can say quite honestly without jesting – we certainly cannot fly now. But we can walk through the Earth, and heck that’s probably even better if we’re planning to surprise the guy!”

And with that they found a stone, and Arik laid his hands on it, and with an incantation for two, he created the two Earth Doors, one there, and one high up on the ridge behind where the archer was standing.

“You ready?” asked Arik of Hermel.

“Ready for what?” asked Hermel, not seeing that anything had changed other than the wind began blowing a little bit more from the south east.

“It worked!” said Arik affirmatively.

“Short people,” replied Hermel to himself as he peered down at the large boulder before them.

“Come on tallie, let’s go,” said Arik and walked directly into the rock and vanished.

Hermel, very reluctantly held his breath and closed his eyes and followed Arik into the boulder. Stepping through he felt a deep bone chilling cold and was immersed in pitch blackness. Arik took him by the arm and they set off.

Arik, of course, could see in the Earth, and followed what looked like the right path down a shelf of granite, through to a rough section of limestone that made a long sloping stair. They made their way slowly, but Arik was always aware that time was passing, and if they stayed below for too long the other portal would close. And that could be bad. Very bad. So they hurried along as fast as they reasonably could. Which is to say, rather slowly. For Hermel it was a dark and claustrophobic journey, and he felt like he was somehow being sanded down with every step. But that sensation wore off after a while and the only sense he had after that was of a dull and persistently cold numbness.

Eventually, after winding their way through the hidden byways of the earth they came to an opening that lead out of the limestone and into cave in which there was air. Suddenly Hermel knew a kind of relief that he had never imagined before. Panting he shook himself and breathed in deeply. There is nothing like air when you’ve somehow been missing out on it for quite some time. How he managed to breath at all while walking through the earth was something of a mystery, but there you have it. At any rate, it was still pitch black. They heard a burbling sound like the rush of water. The air was cold and wet. Arik could see that they were in a large open cave with an eight-foot wide stream running down the center from a tunnel entrance on the far side of the cave to another tunnel closer to where they had come out of the wall.

“There are two ‘things’, I’m not sure what they are,” said Arik, “on the far side over there. If we light a torch they will see us. Should we do it?”

“If I’m going to die, then I would rather see what’s eating me … I guess,” said Hermel unconvincingly.

They decided to take a chance and light a torch. Once lit, they peered around the cave. Way on the other side near the far tunnel entrance Hermel spotted the two man-like creatures with brown caps and vests hiding behind a rock. Arik took out his axe and held it in one hand, while he held the torch in the other. As soon as the torch was lit the two creatures hid themselves behind a rock.

“Is that Ishcandar and Lido?” wondered Hermel. “They’re short enough…”

It seemed that the only ford for the stream was over where the two creatures were. Trying to cross the stream elsewhere was not going to end well, they thought as they peered into the rushing waters. It seemed to Arik that the path lead to the other side of the stream and into the far wall of the cavern.

“We need to go over to where the creatures are in order to ford the stream,” said Arik. Hermel held his shield up and drew his sword. They walked along the edge of the stream slowly.

One of the creatures poked his head up. He had twigs coming out of his hair, and he looked to be a scrappy almost monkey-like person in a gray vest and brown cap made of leaves. Arik wondered if this were not one of the fabled earth sprites. He had heard tales of such creatures in the past. One such story was about a Dwarven couple who lived together in a deep cave. They finally had a child, and all was well, until one day they discerned that the child would not age. A year went by and the child was still the same as he was when born. Then other strange things happened such as the child suddenly bursting out in song in a strange language. They called the mage, who came and realized that the child was a changeling. He put an iron cross on the fireplace, and offered to make the child boiled eggs. The child upon being offered the eggs ran to the fireplace, and finding the iron cross, shrieked in terror and turned into fire and blew away into the chimney. The mage revealed that the child had been taken by the earth sprites and replaced by a changeling. Fortunately, the changeling was stuck in the chimney. The mage then traded poetic riddles with the changeling and discovered the whereabouts of the Dwarven child and in the end the child was restored to his parents and the changeling fled to whence ever it came.

Arik and Hermel crept forward. The two creatures peered over the top of the rocks they were hiding behind. The only safe ford was directly across from where the creatures were hiding. They crept forward slowly and Arik began trying make a round about path to circle behind the creatures if possible.

“This is ridiculous," said Hermel.  "Hello?” he called to the creatures.

“Fiddle-lee, fiddle-loo – down into the brook with you!” said one of the creatures. When he said this the brook began burbling more, as though a rush of water had come down from the tunnel entrance.  there was a strange laughter echoing throughout the cave.

Arik kept a careful eye on the creatures, but they continued their game of hiding behind the rock. As they stepped forward the stream began burbling more and more loudly. Soon the ford of stones would be covered over.

“We mean you no harm,” said Arik, “We simply wish to cross over to the other side and continue our journey.” There was silence from the other side of the rocks.  Arik knew from the tales that such creatures could be mischievous, and even deadly. They happen to be fond of such things as ‘Bitter Bark’ and ‘Nettle Berries’ and had a particular fondness for silver.

“Well, Googlie-goo, I don’t trust you!” said Hermel, trying his hand at he rhyming game. There was laughter behind the rock, and the stream’s water grew higher.

“Got any bitter bark?” asked Arik of Hermel.

“No, I don’t have any bitter bark,” replied Hermel.

"God any nettle berries?" asked Arik.

"No nettle berries," replied Hermel.

“Do you have any silver?” asked Arik of Hermel.

“Yes. That I have. There were a few pieces in Ishcandar’s pouch,” answered Hermel. In Ishcandar’s pouch he found three silver pieces.

“Oh people of the earth…” began Arik.

“If you can’t rhyme it then don’t say it,” suggested Hermel. “They seem to like rhymes.”

“I’m a story teller, not a poet,” answered Arik, annoyed. He tried a rhyme but it came out so off kilter that it was useless. “I recite Epics, not limericks!”

The creatures rolled their eyes on the other side of the rocks.

“What would you like? A liver? Or a sliver of silver?” asked Hermel in a singsong voice that he hoped would help obscure the truly awful rhyme.

There was no laughter. The stream’s burbling grew louder.

“Look if you don’t let us cross,” called out Arik, “we will recite bad poetry at you. We can keep this up all day, believe me!”

There was no laughter. The stream’s burbling grew louder still.

“There once was a Dwarve from Nantucket…” recited Arik boldly and then let out a loud guffaw. The affront was not lost on the little people.

“Twiddle-Goom, Widdle-Broom, Be thou lost in darkning gloom!” chanted one of the little creatures. And with that, from the stream there appeared a mist, which grew into a fog that began rolling in and started to fill the cave. It was a wet and gloomy fog.

“Lets retreat!” said Hermel, eying the fog nervously. And he began retreating back up the stream the way they came.

“We should try to get across the river!” said Arik.

“We’re better off pacifying these things. You said they like silver, so lets give them some silver. But we need a rhyme,” said Hermel.

“What is it with you and rhyming all of a sudden?” barked Arik as he followed back up the river behind Hermel.

“Rhymes make them happy. It’s like if I were talking with Dwarves… I would use small words,” answered Hermel. Arik bristled his beard at Hermel. From the other side of the rocks they heard the tittering of the creatures.

“You’re welcome!” said Hermel. Meanwhile the fog was filling up the cave.

“Googly-Hay, Googly-Way! Let is through – We can pay!” chanted Hermel loudly.

There was gleeful sounding laughter.

Arik inspected the stream, and found that the water was rapidly rising. He wondered if it could possibly fill the entire cave. He concluded that it was not worth mentioning that possibility. They were enshrouded in fog. Arik felt unusually gloomy.

“Are you feeling gloomy?” he asked Hermel.

“Yes,” answered Hermel.

“You always feel gloomy!” exclaimed Arik. “For you it’s normal. Stupid earth walking,” said Arik gloomily. “It’s not worth walking. I wanted to fly. Damnit.”  Arik's legs began to feel heavy.

There was laughter on the other side of the rocks. Arik peered that way, but the fog was so dense that he could barely see them. The water had risen to the point where the rocks that had been protruding were now submerged.

“Gibily-gee, Gibily-Flea – why won’t you answer me?” called out Hermel into the fog.

“Grumble-ton, Tumble-sun – pay us now, or you better run!” chanted one of the creatures with a peel of ominous laughter.

“You see?” said Hermel to Arik, “they respond to rhymes.”

“So they do, so they do,” replied Arik. “Gobbledy-Gook, Gibbily-Fear – we’ve got your silver right here!” chanted Arik, finally getting into the swing of things.

"Rumble-Fumble, toss our gifts, and best not stumble!” chanted back one of the little earth sprites with another peel of laughter.

With that Arik and Hermel walked back toward where the ford was. Hermel tossed a silver coin. Into the air one twiggish hand sprang up catching the coin. Arik tossed the other coin and the second twiggish hand sprang up and caught it.

The two adventurers could then see that the fog had cleared a bit at the ford, and there was a bridge of flat stones just above the water line by which they could cross. Arik tied a rope around Hermel’s waist and let him cross first.  He very nearly tumbled into the freezing stream, but managed to hold steady and made it across. Arik followed behind. Hermel took the rope in both hands and braced himself against some rocks. Arik came across without any problem, being steady of foot generally, as Dwarves usually are.

“Gee, that was so difficult,” said Arik sarcastically.

“Globeldy-gue, Flobldy-Foo, now that we’re across, thank you!” called Arik behind him as he grabbed Hermel by the shoulder and walked through the wall into the granite ledge. To torch immediately blew out as they entered the stone. They walked up a ridge of crystal quartz and at the top was the Earth Door through which they were to exit. Arik took out his axe and stepped through into the bright sunlight. Hermel took his sword and shield in hand and stepped out behind him. He was blinded by the bright snow and sunlight, and so held his shield up to cover his eyes. Arik was not so affected by the change in lighting, and saw immediately the archer’s back as he stood peering around the side of the tall pine. He charged forward and hacked the man with his axe. Hermel, recovering quickly from the snow blindness, followed behind and engaged the man in the next attack. The archer was utterly surprised, and quickly subdued by the two stalwart warriors. They tied him up with the rope, and looked out over the edge of the towering hill. Down below they could see the span of the snow-covered forest below. They spotted Praymar and Ben making their way through the trees toward the rock on the other side of a brook, some five or six hundred feet from their position to the south.

Praymar and Ben had crept fairly far forward through the scattered woods, trying to stick to the trees to keep from being a target for the archer. Praymar saw the archer cocking back the bow, and at the last second dodged behind a tree. ‘Thwak!”, the arrow hit into the tree next to his right shoulder. Ben pushed Praymar down to a crouching position and took a peek around the side of the tree.  He ran some quick calculations and formulated a tactical plan.

When Star, who had been keeping an eye on the hills with the archers while helping Bantum to find the squirrel, noted that the archers were both engaging in the fight.

“Bantum! Our friends are in trouble!” he cried pointing to the hill where the archer was shooting at Praymar and Ben from.

“In trouble!? Ok! I will help them!” shouted Bantum as he, Star and Lanna ran toward where Praymar and Ben were.

Korfu's Fateful Choice

Meanwhile, back at the Inn, Korfu’s strange dream continued…

Korfu, sleeping, found himself in the cavern, feeling feverish, frightened and confused. He was standing in the dark cavern lit by a flickering red glow emanating from a fire in a pit in front of him. Next to it there was the bronze brazier set on the black iron tripod. He thought there were clumps of feathers in the bowl, and it surprised him that they looked like feather dolls. Suddenly, he noticed the little red-skinned man with a tuft of black hair standing just beyond the fire next to the bowl. The red man looked at Korfu, and adjusted his round brass glasses.

"So, Korfu, you have made yourself the minion of that poor fool Ibis?" asked the little man rhetorically. "Ah, but alas, who knows what fate and destiny have in store, eh?" he continued, not waiting for an answer as he handed Korfu two objects. The first was a finely crafted silver mirror. The second was a gorgeously inlaid silver goblet in which was a green liquid simmering with a white mist bubbling over the top. Korfu took them, feeling that somehow he had seen this little red person before, somewhere, perhaps long ago, but he is not sure.

"Look in the mirror - what do you see?" said the little red man.

Korfu, holding the mirror in his left hand saw in it a strange scene, nothing like what he expected. There he beheld an iron tomb in a round chamber with twelve archways set deep inside a mountain that overlooks all the world. Next to it was Ibis, reaching out for the iron sarcophagus. Purple lightning flashed across the heavens. Above him to the north was a looming cloud of darkness, brewing with thunders. Southward he saw smoke and fires burning from horizon to horizon. The east was shrouded in deepest gloom. To the west was a dreadful storm, unleashing a torrential flood. The world was shaking. Wind was blowing hard all around him. There was thunder. An eye within the tomb opened slowly. He heard a deep thunderous voice intone "Boom Boom rain and gloom, shadow spreads in the wake of doom. North is grim, south does flame, east lurks dark in the western rain." Korfu felt a sudden terror and the blood in his veins ran cold.

Then the scene faded. He then saw in the mirror a tall man wearing a long black and scarlet robe with a golden belt and a mask of gold and turquoise, and precious gems, with a golden cobra set on his forehead and vultures wings spread wide above him. The man was lifting his arms upward and he was laughing with a sound like many thunders. There were two serpents growing out of his body, one on each shoulder. The earth was shaking.

Then the scene went dark, and the mirror clouded, and then reformed into another scene. He saw Ibis in a dark stone room tied to a wooden chair. A brute of some kind was looming over him. A woman with red hair and black skullcap was standing nearby. Someone else was observing from the shadows drinking a cup of wine. Ibis was in danger.  The scene faded from the mirror and Korfu looked up from it.

"Your dear mentor Ibis has fallen into the hands of some outlaws, the poor fool." said the little red devil. "Perhaps you can save him, or at least die with him if you so wish. If you choose to make the attempt, all you need do is drink of the goblet, which will restore your powers, throw a feather doll into the fire... and then leap into the flames after it!" he shrieked as he hurled himself into the flames, his obscene laughter mingling with the crackling sounds of the fiery abyss as he fell headlong down the fiery hole.

Korfu took a feather doll in his hand, tossed it into the flames, and then leaped in after it.  There was a sinister echo of laughter throughout the cavern as the fire died down and the dolls fluttered in the non-existent wind.

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Previous Episode: The Unexpected Rendezvous
Next Episode: Battle of Dragon Bridge

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Interlude - The Unexpected Rendezvous

Hermel began to make his way down the dark corridor, using his hand to run along the wall on his right. The further away from the Machine Room the darker it became until he could no longer see his hand in front of his face. He stumbled over some rubble, and the going was slow. Eventually he came to the gap where that long side corridor was, down which he had heard the voices before. He now heard the distant sound of chipping, or digging, echoing up from the long dark corridor.

Facing the gate, he used his hand to guide himself  along the far wall past the corridor, and onward toward the gate. His intention was to find the ladder that led up to the now smoldering ruin of a barn outside. He stopped several times to listen. He could hear the distant sound of digging, but once past the tunnel entrance the sound grew more faint until he was far enough away so that he could no longer hear it. The only sound he heard was the whoosh of a wind that flowed past him in the cold darkness. As he was inching along slowly reaching forward with his right hand while running his left hand along the wall, he came to the gate. The iron bars felt cold to his touch. Moving from left to right slowly, making no noise, he touched each cold iron bar, but he could not find any opening.

“The gate has been sealed,” he thought to himself angrily.

From behind his head he heard a woman's voice.

"The Boss has sent me to come fetch you, and bring you down to him. If you resist, I'm ordered to kill you,” she said bluntly. Somehow Hermel knew that he’d heard this voice before, but he couldn’t quite place it. She sounded deadly serious.

“Oh, which boss is that? The real boss, or the head of security?” he asked with a casual, almost friendly tone.

"Oh, it's you... the guy from the Inn...," she said, surprised. In a flash Hermel recognized her voice as that of the red haired woman with the black skullcap who he’d encountered the first night at the Inn.

After a pause she continued; “He's the Boss of the Guards... Chief of a band of Outlaws who were hired to handle security and keep a lid on the operation, I guess. He’s something of a savage, but shrewd and efficient. Apparently you may know something of particular interest to him about what has been found down in the mine, so he sent me up to fetch you," she concluded, though he sensed a subtle hesitation in her voice. What he thought might have been an almost friendly intonation had crept in.

"Let's move," she said suddenly back to the same hard tone she’d first had. In the darkness Hermel felt the cold steel point of a dagger prod him. Realizing that he was at a distinct disadvantage until he could see, and that he was apparently more valuable alive at the moment, he calmly said, "Oh, the red headed girl from the Inn. I was wondering if something happened to you. I never expected you to happen to me instead. Sure, let's go for a stroll. You're quiet as a cat, by the way. Uh, which way? Unlike you, I don't have cat eyes, and I know that there's a drop off ahead."

She paused. Hermel got the impression that she had smiled. Maybe it was his wonderfully fertile imagination, but he didn’t think so somehow.

"I can see well enough in the dark," she said in a voice that sounded a bit warmer than before. "I won't let you drop, don't worry," she addd with a playful sounding laugh. When she made that sound Hermel heard what he thought sounded like an angry little whistle about two to four feet away from him to the left, and something, a dragonfly, or a bat, maybe a bird, fluttered by his head and then flitted away.  It happened too quickly for him to get a bead on whatever it was.   It vanished into the darkness.

"I wonder if you realize how much trouble you're in right now...” she was saying. “I don't think you do. The Boss is a notorious, ruthless and cunning criminal. Once you tell him everything you know, and he'll torture you to find out for sure I don’t doubt, you're usefulness to him will have come to an end... and that will be that for you. On the other hand..." she went on, seeming to be thinking out loud, "...if you told me what you know, I could tell him it was too late and that you escaped before I could get up here... it might make him mad as hell, but he wouldn't kill me, I don't think..."

She stopped.

"What do you know about what's been found in the mine?" she asked, the point of the dagger digging slightly into his back.

“Did you hear that?” asked Hermel. He was still worried about the whistling noise which he heard again, though further away this time.

"Hear what?" she asked, a small tone of worry in her voice.

"Never mind," Hermel replied. Perhaps it was his imagination, going a bit wild in the darkness.

"At any rate, I'm not that stupid. I know what kind of trouble that I'm in, but it seems, as usual, that I am not in control of my own life anymore," Hermel said with regret. "The funny thing is, I didn't even want to come back here, but my companions saw the fire and wanted to help." After a pause he continued, "I have other people that I need to help, ...and what you do in this mine is your business.... So I have no problem telling you what I know about this mine," Hermel went on in a low voice. "However, like I said, I have things to do that must get done, and for all I know, you could be the Boss, and there's no harm in killing me to keep your little secret safe..." Hermel drifts off and shook his head.

"I'm rambling," he said more to himself than her. "Ok.  Here's the deal, open this gate, and get me into the light by the ladder where I have a fighting chance. The way I see it, on this side of the bars, I'm a dead man. I'm either going to fight you here and now, and probably lose unless I get lucky, or I'm going to be tortured and die later. Heck, your blade is probably poisoned too. Open this gate, lead me to some light so I've got a reason to believe that you'll let me go...  I'll tell you what I know, and then it's up to you. You can draw first blood, and then we fight to the end, or you can let me go, but, after you hear what I have to say, you may just want to leave with me."

"Then again, there's always plan B, but that's risky, and both of us will die, but it's better than dying alone... or torture," Hermel added, with a hint of dry humor.

She paused and thought it over. There was the click of a lock and then the sound of the iron gate being swung open, which was surprisingly quiet (it was well oiled and exceptionally well crafted). As this happened something fluttered past him again, and flew off down the tunnel ahead of them.   He thought he heard something moving along behind them as they walked, but at this point he was chalking everything up to 'nerves'.

"Come quickly," she said and leading Hermel through the dark. After twenty or thirty feet she turned him to the left.  "There are ten feet of stairs going up, be careful."

When they got to the top of the stairs, to his great relief, he could see the rubble strewn corridor, at the end of which was a shaft of light.  At the far end was the broken ladder going up the side of the wall. On the fourth rung of the ladder he noticed a small yellow canary is sitting there preening. Before they got any further, where there was just enough light for him to see, the woman stopped and turned him around.

"Ok," she said, "this is far as I go. At least for now.  Tell me what you know about the mine."

When he turned around he could barely see the silhouette of the woman. She was wearing a black leather skullcap, her long wavy red hair flowing out from beneath. Her pretty face had a tense expression, her lips tight, her stance ready for action.

Behind her he could dimly see the silhouette of another figure crouching on the stairs, a sword and shield in hand, and not looking entirely human for some reason. She had her back to the figure, but he noticed that she was holding one hand up behind her that suggested she had gestured for the fighter to stay where he was, which he did. In a moment the dark figure seemed to blend into the darkness and Hermel could not see him any more.

Hermel rested his back against the stone of the corridor wall, and gave a half smile and chuckle, "Oh, hello there," he said as he nodded in the direction of the hidden figure and sighed, "Well, I asked for a fighting chance. I didn't ask for a good chance. I'll keep my word."

He slicked his hair back, perhaps for the last time, squared his shoulders and said, "I would have told you this without threats: Whatever relics you find in the mines, at least those with magical or religious power, are very old. They might date back as far as the Elder Elkron. Some, if not all of them, are evil and their presence can be felt if you're skilled in that sort of thing. Some can see a dull yellow glow that shines on nothing."

After a distinct pause, Hermel added, "That's all, but this bit is free, and just some friendly advice. I think there's a reason why this place is buried and forgotten. No good can come from it in the long run. In fact, I'll wager that the explosion was no accident, even if it appeared to be. Leave these things alone, or you'll regret it. Besides, the salt is worth enough as is. If the two can be kept apart, it might be worth it, but I doubt it."

Hermel took a deep breath, shifted his cloak back, slid one foot back and placed a hand on the hilt of his broadsword, tilting it her way, ready to draw and attack if necessary.

"Okay, it was nice seeing you again, but it's time for me to go, one way or another, and quite frankly, the suspense is killing me," he said, expecting anything.

She stepped backwards and faded into the darkness as she said; "I may have misjudged you at first. Thanks for the advice. Maybe I'll see you around sometime."

And with that she turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs and was gone.

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Previous Episode:Canary in the Salt Mine
Next Episode:Flight From Unicorn Vale

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