You slip away from Dusin's farm under cover of darkness. Snow drifts down from a night sky gone chill and thick. Melone seems to know the way to Bitterroot Creek, which Dusin has recommended as your line of travel. The Bitterroot runs north to south, about a league to the west of Dusin's farmstead.
The young Tobon girl only gives a brief glance back towards her farm, as you climb the top of a hillside. You can see the farm lit by glints from the falling snow, and figures and horses moving about. Even from here you can make out the soldiers of the lich lord, Khilur, a cavalry troop by the look, led by a Vorghol officer, served by Urag thralls. In the distance, you hear the snorts and tramps of horses, the clatter of steel, and the rough voices, curses and jests of the soldiers as they make themselves at home.
Melone bites her lip and looks towards you both, uncertainly. "That man, Taggart...Father has mentioned him often. You said he was like a father to you?"
Khom-Bei looks at the girl and nods, "That he was."
Melone asks, "And he taught you to slay the Vorghol?"
Khom-Bei says, "He did. Why do you ask, Melone?""
Kane turns and says, "We must met up with the others."
The girl leads you through some dense trees. "Aren't you frightened of them?"
Kane says, "It would be foolish not to be frightened. But fear does not stop us."
Following the girl, Khom-bei speaks softly, "Of course, all men are frightened at times."
Melone raises a brow at this, fascinated. She seems hesitant to speak the next words out loud. "I...have read tales of how things used to be in our land. The Vorghol took all that from us, and more. They have made us slaves to their Thirst." She points out a narrow ledge that you will need to lead your horses down.
Kane follows the narrow path and replies as if quoting from a book, "We were once a mighty and just people, a light to all nations."
Khom-Bei follows Kane, Cakilgan at his shoulder, "The Vorghol are an old evil, but they will not live forever. Good men will always rise up in search of freedom. It is our job to keep the memory of that freedom alive and to show the good people that it is possible to regain it."
Melone pats the flank of Kane's charger as she nimbly makes her way down the ledge. "Perhaps there are jobs for all of us in this."
Kane smiles at the girl and follows her lead.
Khom-Bei smiles at Melone, his teeth visible in the dark, "You are playing a large part right now, Melone. You and your family."
Melone gestures to the ground ahead. "I see your Urag friend has been this way." A pair of large boot prints is visible at the base of the ledge, in a snowy mud puddle now icing up. "How much farther to the caravan?" Grivaine, her small black dog, sniffs at the prints and growls.
Kane, noting the prints, says, "Not far."
She leads you further into the dense woods. With the accumulating snow, Thragga's tracks are harder to spot now, although he tore through here in a hurry by the looks of it. Broken branches, splashed mud...
Kane gives Khom-Bei a worried look. It is unlike the Urag to leave such visible tracks.
A wolf howls in the distance. Grivaine raises his snout and joins in, one canine to another.
Easily capable of following the tracks, Kane pushes ahead, not wanting the girl to be in the lead if danger arises.
Melone squats over another boot print. She looks up at Kane. "He disappeared. See? His tread there. And then he went over these rocks here...and he's gone!"
Kane examines the tracks. Thragga's tracks indeed are deep, up to the jagged rocky surface that Melone points out. Then, there is no telling which way the Urag went.
Khom-Bei says, "He could be trying to ambush anyone following him, Kane."
Kane glances over to Khom-Bei and says, "I believe he may have been followed. I feel the demon's spawn on this trail." He looks to his two companions and says, "Be wary."
Melone looks back the way you came, frightened.
Khom-Bei nods silently and glances around.
Kane heads off in the lead towards the direction of the caravan.
Khom-Bei looks to Melone, "Follow Kane, I will watch the path behind us."
You make your way warily through the snowy woods for a time, in silence. From the grove of old trees ahead of you, a male voice shouts, "Halt!" Bailent, by the sound of it. But no one is seen. "Tread no farther! This way is closed!"
Kane replies with the proper signal: "All paths are open to the light."
Bailent and two warriors emerge from the brush, bows in hand. "Kane, Khom-Bei, thank the Warrior. Thragga told us you'd be along soon." The bearded archer indicates the way you came. "The Urag warned us he might be followed. Saw you anything?" His men cover the way with their bows.
Kane says, "No, but the feel of death is in the air. We must move quickly. We have a guide to help us."
Bailent leads you through a cleft in the trees, where beyond are clustered the wains of the Refuge. Tyrin and Ronan race to Kane, make the ancient salute of obeisance, then kneel before him. "We did as you commanded, Lord Kane, and guarded the stores." Ronan says.
Kane says, "Fine work, boys. Now hurry, we will be moving soon."
Tyrin says, "Shall we see to your horse?"
Kane hands the bridle to Tyrin and says, "With thanks." Tyrin and Ronan take the charger's reins and lead him off to be brushed and fed.
Khom-Bei takes Melone by the arm, "Come with me, Melone, you should speak with the forward scouts about the route we must follow." He leads Melone toward an approaching Elianel.
Elianel looks relieved to see Kane and Khom-Bei return. To the Northerling she says, "And who is this?"
Khom-Bei says, "Milady, this is Melone. Her father knew Taggart of old and she has come to help guide us to safety."
Elianel offers a regal nod to the farm girl. "Any friend of Taggart's is a friend of ours. I am Elianel, Lady of this place. You must confer with my outriders, Melone, at once."
Thragga emerges from the swirling, snowy gloom, axe in one hand, roasted duck leg in the other. "Kane! About time you got here!" He passes you both a wineskin. "Kane, I think I was followed here. But I lost them."
Kane says, "I'm pretty sure you were. Have you sent out any scouts?"
Khom-Bei grabs the wineskin from Thragga and takes a deep drink.
Thragga says, "There is a ring of watchers about the camp now. The boys wanted to go, but I bade them stay close. Did you see anything?"
Kane says, "No, but there was definitely some kind of dead thing on your trail back there."
Thragga takes back the wineskin and gulps from it. "More than one," he says, warily. "I smelled them."
Kane nods.
Elianel watches Melone confer with the scouts, and asks Kane, "What news?"
Colyn limps up to the Hunters and Elianel, on his crutch, to listen to the report.
Kane says, "There are Tol Nedran soldiers massing at one of the local farms. They plan a march on the Northerling tribes. We will need to get past them quietly, that's where Melone comes in."
Elianel says, "Do you think whoever followed Thragga was with these soldiers? Scouts, perhaps?"
As the old man enters the group, Khom-bei leans close to him, "The farmers daughter is going to guide us south, it might be an inspiration if she were able to glimpse the Flame."
Colyn tells Khom-Bei, "We keep it for just that, my friend..."
Kane says, "It's possible, whoever or whatever it or they were though were not among the living. I think we should move as soon as we can."
Khom-Bei nods sharply, "There is no good in lingering here."
Elianel says, "I had hoped to wait until sunup, but you are right, we dare not wait." She gives orders to Bailent: "We travel, now. Make for the Bitterroot Creek, and head south. Enemies are afoot, so be wary." He salutes and dashes off to follow orders. Elianel tells the Hunters, "No time to eat or sleep. We can be at the Standing Stones by night's end if we hurry."
The camp comes alive, busy with activity, making preparations for the last leg of the journey.
Thragga gobbles down the last of his duck leg and tucks the bone in his pocket.
Melone finds her way to your side. She seems a bit amazed by all this, these purposeful folk, who seem so familiar to her. "Who...who are these people, Kane?"
Kane says, "These people are Tol Nedra. This is the Refuge."
Melone blinks. "I thought it a legend. But I was wrong. The legends are true, aren't they? Not just in books."
Kane says, "The legends are true, and each day we spend fighting the Vorghol will be written in legend. Today you make history, Melone."
Khom-Bei says, "I think there is something you should see, Melone. Another legend that you may have heard.""
Colyn points to a nearby wain, from which a blue glow emerges. "Khom-Bei, show her."
Khom-Bei gestures to the glowing wain, then opens the doors and shows the Tobon girl what is within.
Melone gazes on the flickering torchiere, and blinks, her eyes watering. "It's true. A blue fire..." It's like she expects King Brannais himself to emerge from nearby.
Khom-Bei says, "Yes, it's true. The Flame itself."
Elianel's voice rings out from across the camp. "Melone! You're needed at once!" The lead wagons are ready to go. The Tobon girl doesn't know what to say, so she hurries off towards Elianel.
Ronan brings Kane's horse back, fed and watered and brushed. He waits for orders.
Kane turns to the boys and says, "Up on the wagons lads, you're to help guard the small ones. Ready those bows I've had you practicing with."
Thragga snaps, "Their hands are too soft to make good archers, Kane! Give me a week with them and they'll weep for mercy, but they'll be able to bring down a bat in the dark at a hundred paces!"
Kane says, "When we get to the Tower Thragga, I promise." He says to the boys, "Now scoot."
Thragga shows his fangs at the two, in anticipation.
The two boys tremble and hurry off to obey Kane's orders.
With the Hunters as outriders, the caravan makes its way south. Melone's guiding proves true. Unsteady at first, not expecting such responsibility, she rises to the task. The Bitterroot, a chill, swirling creek, travels from its source deep in the Hardstone Hills, and you meet up with it, pursuing a parallel course south on its western bank.
Aryse, the young sorcerer girl, casts a dweomer to hide the tracks of the Refuge on its way through the swiftly falling snow.
Bailent and his guards report no signs of pursuit as the night winds on. The snow shows no signs of letup, which makes the going slow, but Elianel drives her charges urgently.
Elianel consults a small scrap of old parchment covered with her father's notes. A map has been scrawled on it, now spattered with snowflakes. She points to the top of a steep hillside which will prove a challenge to drive the wagons up. Pushing her hood back, snowflakes melting in her blond hair, she tells the Hunters. "Just up that hill, stands a stone circle of the Selandri."
Thragga looks to Kane and Khom-Bei. "Maybe we should go have a look?"
Khom-Bei shrugs, "Someone should."
Kane nudges his horse forward and heads up the hill to take a look.
Khom-Bei follows behind Kane.
Elianel says, "And I'm coming with." She mounts her own steed, a roan mare, and kicks it into line behind Khom-Bei.
Thragga strides along after.
Kane, who has come to respect Elianel as leader, broaches no argument.
Khom-Bei eases his pony aside and lets Elianel join Kane in the lead.
You make your way up to the top of the hill, which is covered with sharp rocks, and guide the horses into the overgrown thicket. A strange silence pervades this place. What events it has seen happened long before any of you were born. You splash across a shallow pond just beginning to freeze over, and there, visible through the trees on the other side, are tall stone shapes, dimly shadowed in the darkness.
Elianel dismounts, watching only the shapes in the trees ahead.
Kane slides down from his horse and joins her.
Even overgrown, and covered with snow, the shapes are magnificent. Each is a tall henge of carved stone, two upright menhirs and a capstone, arranged a circle about twenty yards across. Each henge is about six yards high and must weigh as much as a hundred horses. Each archway looks solid and immovable, the gap between the uprights wide enough to drive a wain between. The capstone of each is covered with swirling Selandri runes.
Khom-Bei slips from his mount and drops to one knee, placing his hand on the ground. "This is no place to tarry, Kane, there is power here that is old and not of our peoples."
The orderly circle reminds you all of a temple, with its clean, silent reverence. Forces were once at work here that you can hardly imagine.
Thragga looks uncomfortable. "I do not like it here..." he grumbles in reply to Khom-Bei's warning.
Khom-Bei stands, "We should get the people here and move quickly to our destination, Elianel."
Elianel tells Khom-Bei, "My father warned me about the dangers of these places, but he also told me that we could learn to control it, if we were wise..."
Kane stands in awe of the Selandri stones and remembers a time long ago when he first glimpsed their like.
A strange light has begun to suffuse the stones. A form almost like a cobweb stretches between two of the arches before you.
Another illuminated cobweb drifts down on the stone circle. It seems more vapor than substance. Soon it's joined by two more, swirling and glowing before you in the snowy air.
Khom-Bei shakes his head, "It would take a stronger power than I know to control this place, Elianel. If you know how to access the power of this place to your use, that is one thing. To control it, quite another."
Kane mumurs as if to himself, "Selandri never set out to control their power, or to be ruled by it, they chose to flow with it."
Figures have begun to emerge from between two of the stones. Tall, slender, and glowing brightly, they wear Selandri-styled armor.
Thragga draws his axe and holds it before him with two hands. "Kane!" he shouts.
Elianel whirls, seeing the shapes. "Shadaman..." she breathes. You have heard this word in the Hunter councils, but never seen their like. Shadaman. Legendary Selandri ghosts. Warriors from the old days under a curse.
Khom-Bei steps back, as if struck, "Ancestors protect us."
A dozen silent Selandri ghosts now pour into the stone circle, bearing ghostly, glowing weapons.
Elianel draws her father's sword. "No..." she says. "Father, no, I tried..."
Kane draws Light Bringer and salutes the lost warriors in the Selandri style.
"Who walks here, dies!" comes a chill voice from one of the spectral figures.
Khom-Bei backs away from the Selandri, pulling his warhammer from his belt, "This is no place for the living, Kane. We are trespassers here."
Thragga says, "Khom-Bei, do something!" he says, backing away, axe before him.
Kane holds Light Bringer up into the air then thrusts it down before him and says, "By the light of all that is just, I bid you let us pass. Cursed though you be, still of the line of high Kings do you descend from!"