Jeff Inlo - Nightmare's Shad

"You are certain?" Holli demanded.

"I saw both," the delver replied, "it was clear, but it was strange. It was as if the sword knew that both couldn't be done, like it was fighting itself."

Sy took a quick look around. He saw no threats in the immediate vicinity. It was almost as if this portal had been abandoned by everyone and everything on the dark side. It was hard to find any sense of security in this place of torment, but he believed they were in no immediate danger. He then offered his own assessment.

"What if we split up-maybe not all of us are supposed to be here? Maybe it's you who has to go back. If you give Holli the sword…"

"No," Ryson answered sternly. "It's not just me, or Holli, or you. None of us should be here. It was so clear I would have pulled us all back through the portal without even telling you."

"But you didn't," Sy followed Ryson's point. "So we also really have to destroy that thing."

"Yes, and we can't wait."

"Two divergent paths." Holli added.

"We can't take them both, but it sounds like we're supposed to. That's a problem." Sy acknowledged. He then turned back to Holli. "Any suggestions?"

"Pick the more pressing of the two," the elf stated.

They both then looked to Ryson.

"They both hit me the same. One was as important as the other. It's like we have to do both."

"I don't think we can," Sy admitted.

"As I said, two divergent paths. We must walk both, but they split before us." Holli then gauged the grounds and considered their plight. "Perhaps this is exactly what Lief intended. Maybe somehow as a spirit he is in touch with a greater perception. He created a dilemma that could not be solved."

Ryson could not accept Lief would be so malicious.

"But why would he do that?"

"I cannot answer that."

Sy decided they were getting nowhere and took command. "Look, we have to do something. The sword wants us to leave and wants us to complete our mission. We can't do both, but failing on both accounts would be the worst decision. Standing here isn't accomplishing anything."

"What do you recommend?" Holli asked, wanting the assessment of a solider she would trust with her life.

"This is how I see it: we find that thing as quickly as possible, destroy it any way we can, and then we get out of here. That's as close to completing both as we can come. Any argument?"

"The strategy appears sound to me," Holli replied quickly.

Ryson was not so quick to agree.

"You have to know this. It's not about getting out of here as quickly as possible. We shouldn't be here now… at this moment. It's a mistake for us to be here at all. That's what I know… for certain."

"I understand that, but you also told us we have to finish what we came here to do."

"I know, and we do. We have to find the vessel and destroy it… immediately."

"Then we can really only pick one or the other." Sy concluded. "I say we destroy that thing and then get out of here."

"It may be a mistake to stay here," Ryson warned.

Sy saw the conflict in the delver. It was not fear of this strange land that pressed Ryson to leave. It was, in fact, something he learned from the sword. Still, a decision had to be made.

"I don't want to force you, Ry," the guard captain admitted, "but unless you have an alternative plan, it's the best we've got."

"I know, but you don't know what I saw. I don't think we can win no matter what we do."

"Well, I'm not for just giving up. Are you?"

Ryson shook his head.

"Well, let's see if we can find some trace of Lief."

The three turned their attention to that end, but somehow Ryson understood that something else was in play. The sword had not lied to him. They had to do everything it decreed, but there was no way to achieve both ends. A despair gripped him and it was more than misery surging from the surrounding lands of death. He felt a crushing doom begin to suffocate his spirit.

Sy looked upon the strange ground. He found markings in the chalky dust, a clear trail of uneven steps by a multi-limbed creature.

"Over here," he called out, as he pointed to the dirt beneath his feet. "I think this is it. Looks like prints made by a very large and drunken spider."

Ryson brought the image of Lief's creation to mind. He recalled how it appeared and how it moved. Sy's description of a large, inebriated arachnid was accurate. He looked over the trail that Sy had discovered and with his eyes followed the path over the treacherous, broken ground.

"That's it. Strange, though."

"What's strange?" Sy asked.

"I would have thought Lief would have covered up the trail."

"Maybe he didn't think there was a need. He might have guessed no one would have been foolish enough to come in here. To tell you the truth, I'm surprised we're standing here now."

Ryson shook his head. He remembered Lief's last words before the elf stepped back through the portal. By bringing the vessel back to the dark realm, Lief plainly intended on keeping Enin at bay, but the elf spirit had to know Ryson would be back. Lief made that clear when he said it would be a struggle between the two of them.

"I think he knew I was coming back," Ryson announced. "He almost said as much."

This caught Sy's attention, and he found it more than a bit disturbing. It sounded almost as if they had been invited. And if Lief did expect to be followed, why would he leave a trail so easy to follow? Sy examined the peculiar tracks once more. He kicked at the dust around the markings and found it would have been fairly easy to cover the tracks, at least in that area.

"I don't like it," he admitted.

"Perhaps we are just fortunate," Holli offered. "Remember, Lief is a spirit, no longer a physical being. He might have lacked the ability to kick dust over tracks. And the device itself sounded as if it lacked the coordination to hide its own trail."

"One problem with that," Sy stated. "If he was going to leave such a clear trail to follow, then why take off in the first place? If he knew Ryson was going to follow him, then leaving wouldn't have done any good. You can't hide if you leave a path like this.

It's like hiding in an open field next to a bon fire."

"Maybe he just wanted to get away from the portal, find a more defensible position. That would be explanation enough."

"Perhaps."

"Also," Holli continued. "I wonder what prolonged exposure to this place might have done to Lief. When you further consider he is actually a spirit called back to this place by a sorceress with great power and little control, the situation becomes difficult to assess. We can not expect him to act based on rational thought."

"You're saying he might be deranged?" Sy asked.

"I am saying it would be difficult, and perhaps foolish, to interpret his actions."

"Wonderful. That means we can't go into this with any expectations at all. I was kind of hoping we might be able to reason with Lief. I thought that might give us some kind of edge. Now, I have to treat him like an enemy."

Ryson found those words almost painful. His relationship with Lief Woodson had been tumultuous at times, but Lief was not, and would never be, an enemy. He simply could not accept that. His loyalty ran too deep.

"Don't give up on him," Ryson finally said.

Sy nodded, but held to his concerns. He would not argue the point with the delver, but he would not walk blindly into a trap, either.

"So what's the plan when we find this thing?" Sy asked before he allowed them to follow the trail.

"According to Enin, the Sword of Decree can shred the device, destroy it," Holli stated. "That is our main objective. I would suggest a low profile as we utilize our abilities to minimize our risk."

"Fair enough, so we track this thing, pinpoint its location, move to position and let Ryson's speed handle the rest."