Douglas Niles - Goddess Worldweaver

After they tethered their ferr’ells, she led them on foot, with their companion Konnor, up to the pinnacle of the seaside elevation. Here they sat on a stone bench, one of several which formed a ring on the hilltop.

The summit was a popular destination for dwarven walkers because of the splendid view of Axial. Now, however, Darann paid no attention to the array of coolfyre beacons. The six pillars of stone stood outlined in sparkling brilliance, torches and lamps illuminating the skirts of balconies, the vertical stripes of the lift channels.

“What did you mean, when you said that the city is no longer safe for clan Houseguard?” Borand asked. “Your words send an uncanny chill down my spine.”

“I am sorry to greet with you such news, but I meant just that. My brothers, our father is dead, slain-I am certain-upon the orders of Lord Nayfal.”

“No!” cried Aurand, bouncing to his feet, clenching his short sword so hard his knuckles turned white. Tears came to his eyes, and his mouth worked frantically, though no sound emerged. Finally he choked out a thought: “I will not believe this!”

Borand, the elder brother, watched Darann carefully, finally stepping forward and taking her shoulders in his strong hands, still looking into her eyes. “I hear and sense your pain. It is true, my brother.” He addressed Aurand while still looking at his sister. “And I am sorry, little one, that you were left to deal with that blow by yourself… I wish that I could have been here.”

“Father slain… by murder…” Aurand’s voice was numb, as if he was trying to convince himself by stating the facts. He shook his head, blinked back his tears, and looked around fiercely. “I swear by all the ancestors of Axial-I will avenge him!”

Then his eyes fell upon his sister again, and he wept loudly, staggering to Darann, sweeping her into his arms. She sobbed, too, at last giving vent to her grief. “I am sorry that we were gone… that you were here alone to face such a crisis.”

“Rufus Houseguard murdered?” Konnor said, horror muting his voice to a dull whisper. He looked at Darann, reached out to touch her hand. “And you have fled the city. Did you sense that you were in danger?”

“Yes… more than sensed, I saw.” She told of her flight from the manor, of the dark intruders who broke in and searched the rooms with clear and menacing purpose.

“These are dark days upon us,” Borand said grimly. “And to think, we returned to Axial with a message of hope.”

“What hope can there be?” Darann asked.

Borand told her, patiently, about their discovery of the abandoned city, the indications that the Delvers might be gone from the First Circle entirely. “We were going to tell father, then go with him to see the king! We hoped to persuade him to open up some of the far warrens to food gathering again, even to let the goblins free to help with the work they have always done for us. But Father… I can’t believe he’s gone!”

“How did he die?” Aurand asked grimly, fingering his sword as he looked across the water at the lights of Axial.

Darann described the warning from Hiyram, her detainment by the guards, and the discovery of the shattered lift. “The king suspected nothing but an accident,” she said quietly. “I looked into his eyes, and I believed him. But he told me that Nayfal himself walked Father to the lift, that he was standing right there when it happened. The cable snapped, and the brakes failed, the first time those two systems have ever malfunctioned together.”

“Sabotage. He would have needed help, but that’s a simple thing for a man of Nayfal’s connections.” Borand scratched his beard, his eyes narrowed. “You were wise to leave the city, my sister.”

“It was not so much a decision-I was chased out!” She recounted the tale of the intruders into Manor Houseguard, of her harrowing escape, and her flight over water. “I knew you would return by the Null Causeway, so I waited here, camping beside the shore, until I saw your ferr’ells coming past the outer beacon.”

“What do we do now?” Konnor asked. “Surely something, besides hiding out in the dark?”

“Yes. Now that you are here, we have to take action,” Darann declared. “We must try to get to the king, tell him what you’ve learned about the Delvers, and what I suspect about Nayfal.”

“You are right, I think,” Borand said. “But I wish we had more to tell him than mere suspicions. Is there some way we can get proof?”

“You said someone helped him to sabotage the lift. We could try to find that person, force him to confess,” said the dwarfmaid.

“Not an easy task, perhaps even impossible,” said the elder brother, shaking his head. “But Hiyram gave you warning about the plot against Father. Do you have any idea how he learned?”

“He knows a dwarf, a pailslopper, who works in the Royal Tower, seems to know something about Nayfal’s activities. But she’s not loyal to him-she gave Hiyram the warning to bring to me. If we find Hiyram, perhaps he can lead us to her, and she might be able to provide us with proof?”

“A pailslopper?” Aurand said with a grimace. “Makes us seem pretty desperate.”

“We are desperate!” snapped Darann, glaring at her younger brother. “In case you hadn’t noticed, your life is probably in danger as well! If our best hopes lie with a goblin and a pailslopper, then what does that say about our countrymen?”

“I am sorry. Your point is taken,” Aurand acknowledged. “And it says some very ugly things about our fellow Seers… very ugly indeed.”

“I have been thinking of something else,” Darann noted, continuing as her brothers remained silent. “Father got a note from a dwarfmaid who claimed to be ‘one of the lowest’ or something like that. I am wondering if she is the same woman as Hiyram’s pailslopper.”

“It’s possible,” Borand concurred. “Certainly worth speaking to the wench.”

“Your boat-is it nearby?” asked Konnor.

“At the foot of this hill,” she replied. “And big enough for the four of us, but barely.”

“We can get the supplies off the ferr’ells,” volunteered Aurand, “and meet you at the shore. Let’s get started right away.”

“Do you think the king will see us?” Borand asked, staring at the city shining so brightly in the distance. The white coolfyre beacons reflected off the still water, amplifying their brightness against the backdrop of the sunless circle.

“We don’t have any choice but to try!” Aurand said sharply. “Our father has been murdered! Do you not desire to avenge him?”

“I do,” said the elder brother, nodding grimly. “I just wonder about our chances of success.”

“That’s a waste of time from over here,” Konnor said. “Better to wonder while we’re waiting in the throne room for our audience with the king. Until then, we’ve got other problems to solve.”

“Agreed,” said Borand. “Perhaps I am simply feeling my age. It is easier, certainly, to wonder than it is to act. But so, too, is such pensive reflection undeniably useless. So let’s move.”

The two brothers started to descend the back side of the hill toward the ferr’ells, while Darann led Konnor down the steeper side facing the city. They worked their way down the rocky slope for some distance before stopping to catch their breath, still a hundred feet above the shore.

“I… I feel terrible that you were here alone,” the dwarf told Darann, clearing his throat awkwardly. “That is… since Karkald was lost, I have worried about you… I mean, with concern, of course.”

Darann sighed, touched and irritated at the same time. He had a point. Why did it seem as though she had to deal with so many problems by herself? But she clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you,” she said simply. “I am glad that the three of you are here now.”