Ru Emerson - Keep on the Borderlands

Finally, she could see far enough to either side to make out pale, rough stone rearing high above them. From the looks of things, they were heading into a broad-mouthed ravine.

Don’t think mouth, she ordered herself. Ominous as the placelooked, her heart rose. This bore a strong resemblance to everything she read in the castellan’s scrolls, and it was laid out just like Zebos’ map.

She glanced back as they slowed, so Jerdren could choose a direction. Flerys was right behind her, staying close to her and M’Baddah as thegirl had promised. Her dark hair was covered by a leather cap, and like M’Baddah, she carried her bow strung, an arrow fitted to the string.

Jerdren called a brief halt and sent Mead and M’Baddah ashort ways ahead. The two were back almost at once.

“We chose right,” the mage said quietly, as the othersgathered close. “There are caves on both sides of this foul glade, and evilcreatures are there as well, but none are nearby.”

“Good,” Jerdren murmured. “Remember what the madman told you,Mead. The nastiest things were living farther from the road, and higher up. We’ll start low and near.”

The mage nodded.

Jerdren shifted his grip on his sword and led the way once again.

It was mid-morning when they halted again. Rock walls climbed steeply north and south, and a high crag straight ahead. Shadow lay thick everywhere, though Eddis caught occasional glimpses of sunlight on the highest spires of stone. Caves-perhaps some of the darker blots along nearest ledge werecaves-but the thin, light-starved trees all around made it difficult to see veryfar.

Jerdren beckoned everyone close. “All ready?” he askedquietly. “Our cave is just over there. See it? Dark opening, right at groundlevel. You three, get those oil lamps lit and shuttered. Luck, people.” Heturned away to check his weapons one last time.

Eddis gave Flerys what she hoped was a confident smile, sheathed her sword, and knelt to rest her feet a moment and set an arrow to her string.

The ground was littered with small stones, bits of bark, and other hard things. She brushed them aside, froze briefly as something small and white rolled away. Finger bones, she thought. She pushed them under a drift of leaves and got back to her feet. They moved on a moment later. Jerdren was back in the lead with M’Baddan and three of the Keep men. Eddis dropped back behindFlerys, and Blorys gave her a faint smile as he moved up next to her.

Sudden movement ahead and up caught her eye.

“Something there!” she whispered.

As Jerdren passed under a black-trunked tree, doglike creatures half her size and armed with blades threw themselves from the branches. Jerdren, startled, went down under two of them, his sword swinging, but he rolled and was on his feet almost at once. Keep men closed in from both sides, spears ready. Eddis set her shoulder against Blorys’ and drew back herbowstring. Mead pushed his way forward and, raising his hands, brought his palms together silently. Something flew from between them, something that scared the little brutes. With shrill cries, they turned and pelted uphill, past the cave entrances she could see, and vanished into the woods-leaving behind one deadcomrade, a wounded one, and half a dozen roughly edged small swords.

“Kobolds,” Blorys breathed against her ear. “Nasty littlethings.”

Eddis nodded and eased the pressure on her string. Jerdren dispatched the wounded kobold with a swift stab, straightened his mail shirt, and looked at Mead, who signed, “Gone.”

Jerdren jerked his head toward the nearest dark opening and set out once again, Mead at his side, but when the man would have gone on in, Mead touched his arm and shook his head.

Willow entered the cave, then quickly came back out and gestured for them to join him.

“There are guards, back in a ways, but there is a deep pitjust inside, where you humans will not be able to see it. Stay as close to the walls on either side as you can. It is perhaps four paces inside, and it will take four paces for you to pass it. I will lead,” he added.

“Good,” Jerdren said. “You with the lanterns next, archersafter.”

Eddis clutched her bow and the arrow in her left hand and felt her way along the wall with the other. Once inside the cave, darkness was complete. Four steps, five. Her foot tilted out and down as the ground fell sharply away. She pressed against the wall and moved past as quickly as possible and kept going to make room for those behind, until someone’s still form broughther to a halt.

Guards, Willow had said, but wherever they were, they weren’tmaking any noise. Maybe they’d run when so many large, well-armed people cameinto the cave. Surely they had seen their visitors? Something off to her left was producing a stomach-turning stench, and she wondered if she was going to be able to deal with all this.

“Light!” Jerdren’s voice was painfully loud in the enclosedarea, and a way ahead, something yelped. Three oil lamps were unshuttered. Eddis could make out armed kobolds frozen against the far wall, their eyes screwed shut tight. Before they could recover to fight or run, Jerdren charged forward, with a Keep spearman at his side. Two of the small guards went down in that sudden attack, and two others fled into darkness to the right, yelling shrilly. Eddis stayed back out of the way as Jerdren and the Keep man cut down the other two guards.

“They’re warning the others,” Jerdren said as he wiped hisblade on one of his fallen enemy. “Leave the lanterns open. Wager they all knowwe’re here now.”

By that light, Eddis could make out rough-hewn walls that were wide enough for two grown men to walk abreast and higher than she could reach. The corridor the kobolds had taken ran fairly straight at a right angle to the entry and was very dimly lit, but she thought the far end might be blocked by a curtain. The other way, a heavy, dark cloth blocked the passage just across from the pit they’d come around. The pit, she could see, was atleast as deep as she was tall, and it was spiked.

“We’re in luck,” Jerdren murmured. “It’s cowardly littlekobolds, all right, and I don’t think they dug this cave. Ceilings would belower.”

“Good,” Eddis said quietly. “I don’t fight well on my handsand knees. We’d better get after them, don’t you think? Keep in mind this placemight hold a lot of them-enough they’ll be willing to turn and fight. Or theymight have bigger allies back there.”

“Allies, huh,” Jerdren said.

“What’s that way?” Kadymus whispered. He was gazing at thecurtained-off passage across the pit.

“Worry about it on the way out,” Jerdren replied. “Guardswent that way.”

“Nothing there but very dead things,” Mead said, and his facetwisted in disgust. “Dead things-and rats.”

Jerdren looked at him, astonished. “You wasted a spell for that?”

“I used my nose,” Mead replied shortly.

“Dead things,” Eddis said, as shortly. “He’s right, trust me.Let’s get moving, before they get a chance to plan something.”

They hurried down the long corridor after the kobolds. It was very quiet that way at the moment. When they reached the curtain, another gloomy passage branched to their left-a fairly short one. Eddis and the others waitedwhile Willow and Kadymus slipped past the filthy cloth. They were back at once.

“Nothing in sight,” Willow said quietly. “We’ve come abouthalfway down this passage. There’s a chamber down there. I could see light, andthere are kobolds down there. I don’t think the guards went that way. It’s toocalm.”

“We don’t go on and leave anything behind to set an ambushfor us when we’re going back out,” Eddis said.

“Let’s go,” Jerdren said shortly and slipped past thecurtain. The others followed.