The wind stabs into Khom-Bei like a sharp knife. He pulls his cloak more firmly about him as the landscape takes shape and trudges forward, head down. He squints against the wind, hard particles of sand abrading his face. The gray dunes stretch about him for miles in all directions. There is only the screeching of the wind about him for company.
A shriek echoes off the dunes, then another, in the tongue of the Northerling people. But the words are lost on the wind.
As you trudge forward, a dark shape becomes visible in the swirling sandstorm.A small tent, more a lean-to really, shelters in the lee of a tall dune. It's anchored to the sand by fraying cords that could blow away any moment.
A figure races up to you in the sands. Wrapped in a cloak like your own, it's screaming the shriek of a mad thing, a dagger clutched in its fist.
"My wife! Have you seen her?" the man demands. The Northerling wears a sigil about his neck of the vanished Brightmoon people. "Tell me! Tell me!"
Khom-Bei grabs the man by his shoulders. "Where is this place?"
The man lifts the dagger and holds the blade to Khom-Bei's neck. "My wife! Help me, please!"
Khom-Bei grabs the man's hand and pushes the blade away. "Stay back. Tell me where I am."
More figures loom in the swirling sands, vague and indistinct. They circle about you. "Help him!" one cries. "Help us all!"
Khom-Bei moves through the crowd toward the lean-to. "Leave me. All of you. Leave me alone."
Cold, strong hands close on your shoulders and neck as the crowd presses in. The wind batters your face and neck. You close your eyes against the stinging sands.
Khom-Bei drops to his knees and presses his forehead to the ground, "Great Father, if it is my time, take me to your side."
The cold Northerlings tear at you as they madly shriek. Strips of bleeding flesh peel away from your back and shoulders.
A voice in the din shouts, "Khom-Bei! This way!" The voice is coming from a figure squatting by the lean-to.
Khom-Bei struggles to his feet and pushes his way toward the lean-to.
Blood flows freely from your wounds. You batter your way past the circle and the figures flee screaming into the storm. You collapse into the silence and cool dimness of the lean-to.
A man bends over you, a Northerling of many summers with a calm, wise face. He gestures for you to sit up. This is Dhor-Shai, a Northerling once high in the councils of King Malivare, and now a Hunter. You have not seen him in several years.
Khom-Bei says, "Dhor-shai, tell me what this place is."
"This is nowhere, Khom-Bei." Dhor-Shai says. "Nowhere at all."
Khom-Bei nods, understanding, "How do I free my kin, Dhor-shai?"
Dhor-Shai considers. His voice seems to come from a long way off. "Send us to the Great Father, Khom-Bei."
Khom-Bei says, "How, Dhor-shai? How do I do this?"
Dhor-Shai says, "For many years, he cheated death by staying here. When he could, he moved to a new vessel. But this vessel still remains. Without the vessel, this place will be no more."
Khom-Bei says, "How do I destroy the vessel? And if I destroy it, will he not find a new one?"
Dhor-Shai looks out the opening of the lean-to. "He has already left. We are here, now, and he uses us as he will." He looks at you. "You mustn't allow it. We are gone and must be allowed to go."
Khom-Bei says, "Dhor-shai, how do I destroy this vessel so that you may go to the Great Father?"
Dhor-Shai says, "A Dragha could do this..." In life, he was always maddening in his slowness, and more so now. "They took us all, Khom-Bei. Avenge us."
The wind picks up. The tent begins to rock as the wind batters it. The noise of the harsh wind rises.
Khom-Bei says, "I will avenge you all, Dhor-shai, if you will tell me how to destroy the vessel."
The wind is ripping the tent from the sand. The stakes pull loose from the ground. The lean-to begins to flutter and snap, wrapping itself around you as you speak.
Dhor-Shai shouts, clutching at you, "There isn't much time. Dragha, or daylight, Khom-Bei. Dragha or daylight!"
Khom-Bei grabs Dhor-shai by the shoulders, "What does that mean, Dhor-shai? Dragha or daylight where? How?"
The wind is deafening, the sand blinding. You emerge from sleep suddenly. This was a visit to the dreamworld. Your father wandered there, he told you often of it. Dhar-bo is bending over you, gently shaking you awake. "Khom-Bei, the war council has begun. You asked to be awakened...Are you all right?"
You are once more in Castle Eryth. The light outside is greyish, as on a dim twilight, although it must be midday. Hours have passed since you lay down to take a few moments rest after the battle.
Khom-Bei sits quickly and shakes the dream from his head, "Yes, sister, I had a dream that was... odd." He smiles at the girl, "Thank you for waking me. Have you seen Jenn-dai? I must speak with her."
Dhar-bo brushes a lock of hair from your forehead and offers you a cool goblet of water. "I grew concerned. You slept so still. Jenn-Dai is at the council with the others, Kane and Thragga."
Khom-Bei smiles and drinks deeply, returning the goblet to Dhar-bo, "Thank you, Dhar-bo, for the drink and for your concern." He stands and stretches, "I must not keep them waiting."
You hurry to the Castellan's chambers, and the sound of angry shouting precedes your entrance.
"This Yarga promises! To slay every Vorghol foe!!"
Then another voice, "I swear, is every Urag ignorant as a pig? Listen to me, greenskin! This is the Beast we battle, not some hill Vorghol!"
As Khom-Bei enters, Rhyan and Yarga are looming over the council table, where a great map is spread, and Kane stands between them, keeping them from coming to blows.
Yarga snaps, breathing in Kane's face as he bellows at Rhyan, "Do not lecture Yarga! We have battled the demon of Northspike before! And he flees in terror at our approach!"
Khom-Bei catches Kane's eyes as he enters, shaking his head.
Kane reminds them, "We must all work together my friends so that we can defeat this menace."
Thragga looks like he plans to clout someone in the head. Either Rhyan or Yarga, who can say.Jenn-Dai sits by the map table, with Garvin and other Oathkeepers, her son Dai-thon, and other warriors. She smokes a pipe and studies the map calmly.
Khom-Bei moves through the room and takes a spot next to Jenn-dai.
Rhyan says, "Work together? With this glory hound? Explain to this bandit that we are knights, not cutthroats!"
Khom-Bei leans close to Jenn-dai and whispers, "How long did it take to go bad?"
Jenn-Dai offers Khom-Bei her pipe and shrugs. She says quietly, "The Ress and the Urag mix like oil and water, Khom-Bei. Yarga wants to loot the Castle, and every Ressi wants to pound the Urag into mush."
Kane says, "I assure you Rhyan, no one is asking the Ress to compromise their morals."
Rhyan says, "It's not morals I'm speaking of. It's basic tactics, Kane! We charge blindly after them and we will certainly be walking into a trap. We cannot fall on them simply hooting and hollering like...well, like a pack of wild Urag! See reason on this. I won't throw my men's lives away to Yarga's greater glory!"
Khom-Bei accepts the offered pipe and puffs deeply before handing it back, "I would speak with you afterwards, I walked the dreamworld and met with Dhor-shai."
Kane says, "Although we band together all must fight in their own way. We do not have the time ...."
Jenn-Dai's eyes go wide. "Dhor-Shai?" She rises, gesturing for Kane's attention. "Khom-Bei must be allowed to speak."
Kane turns to face Jenn-Dai.
Rhyan and Yarga cease their bickering and turn towards the Northerlings
Garvin grins to himself. He pours another goblet of wine and sits back.
Khom-Bei stands and steps forward, "I did not mean to tell this council what I had meant to discuss in private with Jenn-dai, but she thinks it important."
Kane says, "Speak, friend."
Rhyan says, "Speak, Khom-Bei, you have earned the right."
Jenn-Dai seats herself, puffing on her pipe, content to listen.
Khom-Bei says, "I have walked the dreamworld this day, it was a talent my father had in great supply and it has returned home to me. The visions of the dreamworld are not easily understood, but the one who spoke with me there was clear. He was Dhor-shai, a Northerling warrior and former advisor to Malivare."
Yarga doesn't say anything, for once. A war shaman takes such talk seriously.
Khom-Bei says, "He and the others of my kin are trapped by some power in a place between this world and the next. It is the power that wrought the abomination which we faced last night and I believe that the souls of the trapped feed that abomination."
Rhyan says, "This power...could it be the necromancer of which you spoke, Kane?"
Kane says, "I believe so, but how can this dream help us?"
Yarga says, clutching a talisman in his clawed hands, "Do not say his name. It will give him power in this room."
Khom-Bei says, "Dhor-shai says that I must free them so that they may go to the Great Father. I must destroy the vessel that holds them prisoner. It must be done with daylight or by Dragha's fire. If that vessel is destroyed, I think the abomination will also be."
Rhyan says, "The man who is possessed by the necromancer. Kane's friend. He must be the vessel." He turns to Kane. "Your friend must die, then."
Khom-Bei drops his head, "Unfortunately, I do not yet know how to destroy the vessel. I would be grateful for any help the council can offer."
Kane says, "Lacking any sufficent source of Dragha fire, we must somehow lure this monster out into the daylight."
Garvin sneers, "Oh, that's easy, lad, we just rope up a Dragha and haul him t'us. Easy as fallin' off me horse."
Jenn-Dai says, "Did Dhor-Shai say aught else?"
Thragga looks thoughtful, regarding Khom-Bei with new eyes.
Khom-Bei nods with a faint smile, "He was his old self, Jenn-dai, he said much that did not seem to further the conversation."
Yarga says, "It is not the man. No man's flesh could hold three hundred souls. He would kindle to ashes."
Kane offers, "Perhaps it is the abomination itself?
Thragga says, simply, "It's the stick." He turns away, seizes the last of the hamhocks and chews on them noisily. "Shoulda broken it when I had the chance."
Garvin snorts, horselike.
Rhyan turns to Jenn-Dai and Khom-Bei. "What think you?"
Khom-Bei shakes his head and looks to Jenn-dai, "I am not well-versed in the ways of the dreamworld. Jenn-dai?"
Jenn-Dai taps out her pipe. "It must be a struggle for Dhor-Shai to get us this message. But the dreamworld is always truth, even if we do not recognize it as such. He would not have told us otherwise."
Khom-Bei says, "And the vessel he spoke of? What might it be?"
Jenn-Dai looks towards Thragga.
Thragga doesn't turn to anyone, but continues gnawing on the hamhocks. "Told you already." he says around a mouthful. "If you want, I'll go and break it for you for good this time."
Khom-Bei follows her gaze, "Was he right? Is it the staff?"
Kane says, "Yes, Thragga's words ring true."
Yarga says, "Daylight to kill the colossus, and Vorghol...and Dragha flames to kill the staff."
Kane says, "Perhaps."
Yarga snaps at Kane, in his face, "You doubt my read, Kane!? I, Yarga, a war shaman of the Urag? Who speaks to He-Who-Watches??"
Jenn-Dai says, "Kill it, indeed, for surely the staff is a living thing...it holds a soul, now many souls, like these our bodies."
Kane says, "My apologies Yarga. I did not realize that you spoke in the capacity of a shaman."
Yarga huffs, mollified for now.
Garvin rolls his eyes at Yarga's outburst.
Kane says, "Your words make great sense.
Garvin mutters, "For bloody once..."
Kane sets his hand on the scabbarded Light Bringer. "If Dragha fire can destroy it I, know of a good source of that."
Rhyan says, "Very well, then. We have no time to waste. As I said earlier, I propose that a lance of knights form the central column of our force. The foe have a lead on us, but reinforcements from elsewhere on the Westwall are moving to pursue and destroy them. Yarga, Jenn-Dai, your forces will serve as skirmishers, auxiliary to the main column, in a wedge, but led by one of my officers."
Yarga rejoins, "What? We can lead ourselves, Ressi!" The argument is about to begin again.
Rhyan explains, "To coordinate movements...I can't have you haring off after every damn Vorghol you meet. We will meet and crush them on the field. Not piecemeal!"
Kane says, "Rhyan, I think it best Yarga and the clans lead themselves. They will know best how to harry our foe."
Jenn-Dai tells Khom-Bei, "Stiff-necked Ressi!"
Kane says, "Besides they would never follow the orders of one of your Captains. Remember these are allies not subjects."
Rhyan shakes his head, to pacify the outraged Yarga. "Very well! I will allow it. I will lead our lancers myself, and meet up with the riders from Castle Morin and the other reinforcements here." He points to the map of western Tol Nedra... specifically, where a small Tol Nedran village once stood but now are only ruins. It overlooks a broad valley called Morden Vale. "Harry the foe, Yarga. But do not engage the main force. My riders tell me there are hundreds of Tol Nedran soldiers meeting up with the Beast's vanguard. Too many even for Yarga to destroy at once. Meet us there, at the dead village."
Kane says, "This seems a wise plan, what says Yarga and Jenn-Dai?"
Yarga seems to accept this. Jenn-Dai nods, agreeably.
Rhyan tells Kane and Khom-Bei, "You know these lands. We will need scouts, outriders, to find the foe and tell us the lay of the land. Can I count on you?"
Kane says, "You can always count on us."
Khom-Bei nods to the Castellan.
On the map, the village is little more than a day's ride away. Rhyan says, "I will send other scouts to the south. You head for Morden Vale in the north. It is midday now. Meet me at the dead village before dawn tomorrow and report what you've found." He pauses. "I don't need to tell you to be careful."
Thragga burps.
There is a voice from the door. King Garrovic and Ser Joric stand there. The Ressi in the room go to one knee, averting their eyes. The King is unsteady, pale, red-eyed, and there is a slight tremble in his manner. "No, Castellan."
Kane looks to the drunken King to see what he has to say.
Jenn-Dai rises, with Dai-thon, and offers all the courtesy a simple plainswoman can. Yarga just waits.
Kane rises and bows to the King.
The King says, "I will lead the army. If..." he glances at his nephew, who seems to have grown up a great deal in just the few days you've known him..."they will have me."
Rhyan nods. "Yes, your Grace. We guard."
The Ressi echo the words. "We guard! We guard!"
Kane looks astonished at this turn of events.
Garvin joins in. This is, after all, his sovereign and he can do no less.
Khom-Bei turns and drops to his knee before the King, "Your Grace. I serve at your pleasure."
The King sets his hand on Khom-Bei's shoulder. "I should be wise enough to recognize my friends. And man enough to thank them."
Yarga says, "What a foe we will make, King of Ress!" He recognizes the power of the Kingdom he now allies with and offers a simple bow of respect.
Garrovic tells the room, "The Castellan's plan is set, and shows wisdom, which is in scant supply these last few days. Let us waste no more time. We saddle up and ride now."
Khom-Bei stands and turns to his fellow Hunters, "Come, we ride quickly."
Kane says, "Aye friend, we ride at long last."
Thragga grins. "Urag do not ride!"