“HEY!!” Lif cried out, immediately rousing Finchly, Nethrida and Catalinna from their unnatural sleep. As the trio looked around in confusion the elf stared up at Cat, still in her perch. “Looks like your pals have run out on us Red…or worse!”
With a derisive snort Cat dropped out of the tree beside Lif, instantly awake despite the strange dream lingering in the back of her mind. “I doubt that, it’s not in the Secret Keepers nature to run, even when it would be the smart move. Something must have snatched them…” She searched around the base of the tree where Gwyn and Dar had settled themselves but saw no sign of a struggle. The earth was a bit disturbed, but not much…it looked as if they had just packed up their gear again and departed.
Nethrida moved to check the horses. “The mount they shared is gone, the others are calm…or as calm as any beast is so close to Fornost. Nothing seems amiss…have we been betrayed so soon?”
Finchley felt as if she were still dreaming, looking up at the evening sky. She couldn’t seem to get over the look of malice in the little boy’s eyes in her dream and now this? She sat down heavily on the barren ground. “This is all my fault…I was supposed to be on guard, and I fell asleep. I fell asleep and now Gwyn and Dar are gone….do you think they are….?”
Nethrida shook her head. “No reason to think that…no sign of a struggle of any kind.”
Xandilif nodded, finding the hoofprints of the horse they had shared, leading back down to the road towards Fornost. “No question…they went off peaceful as could be. But if they were just running out on us for less dangerous climes…why are these tracks leading TOWARDS Fornost and not away from it? I don’t know if the Ninny knows her directions or not, but I guarantee the Boyfriend ain’t one to get lost….so they sold us out or are planning to.”
Cat shook her head firmly, gathering her own gear up quickly as she spoke. “NO!...I don’t buy it and you can’t say anything about it, elf…you don’t even know them! If they went to Fornost then they were coaxed there, maybe some magic led them away…maybe the Emissary’s ghosty friend put a hex on them?”
Finchley got back to her feet and called for Galvra who fluttered down out of a nearby tree reluctantly, squawking all the way down. “Robin wouldn’t do that…He came to warn us, not to hurt us.”
Cat laughed without humor, already on her horse. “WARN us? Oh is that what all that nonsense was? Some Lord of Could Have Been, a Priestess of Vessels…The Twins of what, future past? Sounds like stuff someone’s papa read them at bed time when he was too drunk to see the book. If you ask me, that shade was here to distract us, not warn us…now if you don’t mind, I am going to follow this trail and find my friends. Come along if you want, or go to blazes for all I care.”
The other three looked at one another in consternation…then saddled up quickly, riding after the redhead as she galloped on the horse Slingshot into the grey unknown.
By the time they caught up to her, Cat had paused deep in the desolation called the Fields of Fornost, looking around nervously. “The Secret Keeper was right, there is NOTHING alive out here…not even bugs…only animal I can see is that noisy chicken Finchley keeps."
On queue, Galvra squawked “Feck You Red!!!!” from it’s perch on Finchley’s shoulder, who blushed and stared at Lif. “Now you are teaching him NAMES….?”
Xandilif shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea at the time…but Red is right. It’s like something..well… SCARED away all the Wargs and Barghests. What could do that?”
Nethrida whistled low and gestured that everyone should dismount and hug the line of the hill. In the distance she pointed out a ragged line of Orcs and wargs, several hundred, marching across the field. “That is quite a little army…departing Fornost from the look of it.”
Lif nodded. “I would say they are off to their twice yearly cookout in Trestlebridge. That makes it easier on us, since the Norbury Gate should be thinned out, at least for a day or two. Orcs are hell at force rotations.”
Remounting, the quartet continued, being careful not to gallop so as to avoid notice, still following the hoofprints left by Gwyn and Dar. Catalinna seemed to be growing even more nervous as the rode. “Never heard of Deadman’s Dike with so few patrols…this is almost eerie, like an empty bar at the last call.”
Xandilif nodded. “Tell me about it…last time I was here ya couldn’t twirl a cat without hitting an orc, or a priest, or both…not you, I mean a real cat…well..you get what I mean.”
Catalinna shook her head darkly, hooking her thumb at Finchley. “I think the only one who gets what you mean elf, is that one.”
As they continued, Nethrida struggled to stay focused as another memory came to her unbidden. A vision of standing at the gates of Fornost with thousands upon thousands of warriors of Angmar arrayed before her. She gripped her hilt tighter, and looked around at her men, preparing to launch the first sally against the hordes when the sound of Catapults firing filled the air and severed heads pelted the defenders. Looking down with horror, she realized that the head that had rolled to her feet was that of her very own father. She screamed, and the orcs charged….but this was not her memory, she did not know the face she knew was her father. What foul sorcery was this? With effort, she kept her mind on the business at hand…but her resolve was shaken even more then it had been before. How could she fight the past itself?
Riding along the vague remains of the once mighty road, they could tell they were getting closer to the ancient fortress as the gravel under the hooves of their horses became as much shards of bones as stones. Finchley shuddered. “This seems wrong..like I am riding across people’s graves.”
The Banshee raised a hand, bringing them to a halt as she slipped off her horse. “Trust me Babygirl, the dead don’t care…but those two up ahead might. Orc sentries on either side of the road, at 10 and 2. Trouble, you get right, I will take left. Don’t screw this up.”
Nethrida slipped off her horse and drew her sword, happy for something to take her mind off the strange vision as Catalinna scoffed in disbelief. “I don’t see anything…just the road and this damn haze.”
The knight nodded grimly up at Cat. “Elven eyes. Also, it is as if she smells them like a hound smells a hare..or a sausage. Trot forward slightly so you can see what happens.”
With that the two were gone, slipping up on the two weary orc sentries. Nethrida crept up behind her target, the dagger gifted to her by Addiela in her fist. A powerful grab, one long cut around the throat and it was over silently. On the other side of the road, Xandilif, Champion of the Azure Faithful drove her short blade between the orc's neck piece and jerkin from behind, cracking the armor, but the monster was strong and tried to turn to face the sudden attack. Lif therefore let it, using its own momentum and the imbedded blade for leverage, breaking its neck with her free hand gripping its jaw.
As they returned, Lif slapped the flank of her warhorse to send it away. “Dismount, we are close…we walk from here.”
Finchley slipped off Destiny, giving the Wonder Horse her last apple and an ear snuggle before sending it on its way.
Cat however refused to give up Slingshot for now, and riding past the remains of the two sentries, Cat shook her head. “Remind me to stay on the good sides of you two…”
Finchley smiled a bit despite herself. “A lot of people say that….”
Ignoring Finchley and pointing ahead, Cat indicated what looked like a dozen or so orcs grouped around something beside the Norbury Gate. “I thought you said the gate would be thinned out.”
Nethrida sighed. “That IS thinned out..but what are the brutes up to…and why do they have a pyre and stake built up over there?”
Xandilif paused and took a moment to draw SilverWand off her back. “Looks like they got a prisoner and they are planning on burning ‘em as a sacrifice to whichever twisted warlord they worship this week. Maybe it is your friends….if so we may still be in time.”
Cat nodded and carefully loaded her crossbow. “If so there is no way we will get through that many Orcs before they kill them, we need a distraction before they notice us.”
Slipping closer they could hear the orc’s arguing. One seemed to have taken control. “We ain’t waitin’ for the Angmar man no more. Karak go with the invasion army so me, Hareth, in charge, and Hareth say we burn em and eat good for once!! If Karek live and no like it, we burn him and eat him TOO!” The others cheered, obviously heartened by the promise of fresh meat.
Xandilif nodded to herself. “Distraction, eh?” and slipped her bottle of Grog off her shoulder. Whistling for the Raven, she put the strap in his beak and using a bit of flint and a torn cloth, lit a short fuse. “Listen up you fecking Bird…fly up over that Pyre, get good and high, and drop the bottle on it…don’t you miss or we’ll boil ya. Get going, light em the feck up!”
Galvra beat his wings and flew off, it’s mouth full of the strap but still able to squawk “Light the feck up!!!!” A few circles and then the bottle plummeted into the gathered wood of the pyre, smashing and setting it all alight.
The sudden whoosh of flames brought the majority of the orcs running towards the pyre, Hareth screaming at the flames as he ran forward “NO…meat not ready..STOP BURNING…STOP BURNING!!!!”
One lone orc remained between the quarter and the prisoners…but as she galloped forward to the rescue Cat saw it wasn’t prisoners but just a single one…and it was neither Gwyn nor Dar, but another woman Cat immediately recognized. “That…..that’s Sableinna…that’s my DAMN SISTER!!!”
The orcs in their frantic struggles to put out the burning pyre had only managed to spread it as several of them, including Hareth, had burst into flame themselves, and the wooden frame Sable was tied to had begun to smolder. “Get her out there or she’ll cook anyway!! Get her to the gate, this bunch of orcs won’t follow ya into the Fortress proper!!!” Lif shouted, running after Cat and Slingshot, Finchley and Nethrida not far behind.
While riding, Cat braced herself and took aim with the crossbow, meaning to shoot through the ropes binding her sister…but she missed. Luckily she missed the swooning woman but broke the wooden frame instead. Cursing and riding past the last remaining orc she tossed the crossbow at his head. “HERE! May you have the same luck I did with it!!”.
Barely slowing, Cat leaned over in the saddle, grabbed Sable by the arm and tried to hoist her up into her saddle. To her own shock, Slingshot allowed it and she managed to drag her sister to safety. She was very much the worse for wear. From the look of her she had been under the no-so-gentle care of the orcs since she had ridden out of Bree in a temper weeks ago.
As Cat rode for the relative safety of the Norbury Gate, the orc behind her picked up the crossbow that had hit him in the head, watching her ride away. “Hey LADY!!! Ya drop yer shooty thing!!!!” That was the last excuse for a thought the orc had as with a resounding “shingSHING” Xandlif cut him down from behind and collected the crossbow.
“Sorry friend, we may need this later…Waste not, want not.” the elf said to the dying orc as she ran past, finally catching up to Cat at the gate, helping her take her sister off the horse and laying her on the ground. She passed Cat a small bottle of Mirovir. “Give her a sip of this…”
Finchley ran up and dropped to her knees beside the broken woman, cradling her head in her lap. “Oh no… Miss Sable…what happened to you?” as Nethrida stood over them, facing back towards the burning orcs, just in case.
Sable seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness…suddenly she grabbed her sister by the lapels, her voice sounding half mad. Cat…oh god Cat…I tried…I wanted to…to…make you proud but, there were so many orcs…so many……” for a moment she seemed to swoon, then spoke again. “I SAW her, Cat… I saw Gwyn…she and some man were led right past me, into the gate…I called to her..but she must not of heard me…and they beat me….they beat me….” The woman began to weep piteously.
Cat seemed to be filled with equal parts of empathy and disgust as she looked down at her sister. Lif walked past them, all too familiar with such a mix of feelings and stood in the mighty arch of the ruined gate, looking into the ruins to be sure there were no new threats advancing. As she did so, Nethrida came to stand beside her. “Xandilif, we should move quickly, we must find those two before…” said the Knight but then she suddenly stopped talking.
Xandilif glanced up at the sudden silence and saw Neth staring, opened mouth. Following her line of sight she realized the ruins of mighty Fornost had begun to shimmer in the rising moonlight, seeming to blossom and grow before their eyes until they were staring into a living, vital, undamaged Fornost, filled with people hurrying to prepare her last defense, brave pennants snapping in the wind.
Xandilif stared…and spat. “Now what fresh hell is this?” She asked to no one in particular.
