T Lain - City of Fire

Trebba would go with Ian. She told the rest of the party to stay back as far as they could and follow their footsteps exactly, but she felt—and everyone else agreed—that she’d have the best chance of spotting a trap before stepping in it than anyone. It would be slow going, but the trees and underbrush provided plenty of cover.

Naull worried about that. What if they were wrong about guards? Orcs could be behind every tree between here and the caves—more than a hundred yards away, if Ian was right—and it would be a simple matter for outlying pickets to let them enter and shut the trap behind them. When she brought this up, though, Regdar’s answer was less than satisfying.

“Ian thinks it’s unlikely, and we’ll have to risk it. I think he’s right that the orcs wouldn’t leave many warriors behind to guard their loot, just because of the trust issue. If that’s true, there can’t be more than a handful of warriors down there.”

Define “handful,” Naull mused glumly.

She was to try to stay in the middle of the party, right in front of Early, with Regdar bringing up the rear. They’d used the last of their coalblack on his plate armor and the two fighters’ swords in an effort to minimize any reflection there might be in the dim light, but nothing could cover the clanking Regdar made when he moved at any speed. They hoped the orcs wouldn’t notice until the vanguard was upon them.

If I’d known we were going to be sneaking around, the wizard thought sourly, I would’ve brought along a silence spell.

She made a mental note to ask more questions before she prepared her spells every morning. “Are we likely to be storming an orc lair in the pitch darkness tonight?” hadn’t seemed like a pertinent question eighteen hours before.

Despite her sour thoughts, Naull kept her concentration following in Early’s footsteps. She let a part of her mind review her spells again, desperate to come up with a combination that might deal with any surprises. Still, she just didn’t have anything that would be much help against more orcs than they hoped to face.

Suddenly, Ian froze. In the gloom, Naull saw him grasp Trebba’s shoulder and the thief held out both her hands and crouched down. It was the signal they’d agreed upon to indicate “Stop!”

Whether the cloud cover broke a little, letting the moon’s light in just a tiny bit more, or whether cold Wee Jas chose to look down with uncharacteristic kindness on one of her less-devoted servants, Naull found she could make out the half-elf and what lay just beyond him. A damp wind blew through the dell. The light continued to grow as the cloud cover moved away. With a start of surprise Naull realized that she could see the cave mouth they were heading toward. It lay to the left, recessed into the northernmost wall of the valley. Naull could almost feel orc archers waiting there in the complete darkness of the cave mouth, but no arrows flew.

After a minute or more of silent waiting and watching, Ian motioned the others forward again. As Naull closed in, she heard Trebba’s whisper.

“I want to check it out,” the thief said. “There could still be a trap in the entrance, or an alarm of some kind.”

Ian shrugged and prepared to go with her.

“Don’t ring any doorbells,” he joked.

“Go ahead,” Naull whispered. “I’ll get Early and Regdar to move up. We can get to the cave mouth quickly from here if you need us.”

Trebba nodded and moved off into the shadows.

“Be careful,” Naull added.

She wondered if it was too late for any of them to be careful enough, but she drove the thought as far out of her mind as possible.

Trebba and Ian disappeared into the cave mouth, and for a few short, agonizing moments, Naull, Early, and Regdar crouched in the darkness.

Ian soon appeared in the dim light outside the cave mouth. He stood nearly erect and waved. By their pre-arranged plan, Early started forward, moving quickly up to the cliff wall then along the edge to where the ranger stood. Naull waited until Early passed the orcs’ septic hole and followed. Regdar came last.

Naull gave a sharp intake of breath as she arrived at the cave mouth. Trebba sat with her back against the rough stone wall, her hand clutched to her right shoulder. The thief was in obvious pain. Her breasts rose and fell with labored breathing.

“I’m all right. I’m all right,” she chanted.

Beside her lay a bloody bolt and what looked like a few yards of string.

When Regdar arrived, Ian said, “Trebba found a tripwire strung across the entrance. It would’ve sounded some sort of alarm. She disabled it, but then that—” the half-elf pointed to the dart on the ground—“shot out of the ceiling. It would’ve gotten her right in the top of the skull, but she twisted out of the way.”

“Not far enough,” Trebba gasped. “But I’m all right. Help me up.”

The rogue stood with Regdar’s assistance. Early looked at the wound while Ian studied the arrow.

“Nasty,” the big man said, “but it’s clean. Good job.” He inclined his head to Ian.

“I don’t think the bolt was poisoned,” Ian replied. “Or if it was, the poison lost its effect, sitting up there for so long.”

“Thanks ever so much, guys,” Trebba said with disdain.

She moved her pack’s straps over to her uninjured shoulder.

“You all right?” Regdar asked. “You could wait here.”

Trebba shook her head and answered, “No. If there’s more traps in there, you’re going to need someone to find them.”

Early looked into the darkness and said, “I can’t see more than my hand in front of my face.”

In answer, Naull drew a few items out of her pouches.

“Better than torches,” Regdar agreed.

A few murmured words later and an eye-sized stone in the wizard’s hand lit up with a heatless flame like that of a torch. One smooth motion later, Naull had the stone affixed to a small, cheap ring. She opened and closed her hand over it a few times, illuminating the cave mouth and dimming it to near-darkness again in the process.

“Nice trick,” Early said. “I seen light spells, o’course, but that ring’s handy.”

“Keeps my hands free but lets me cut off the light if we need to.” Naull took the ring off and handed it to Trebba. “If you’re going first, though, you’ll need it.”

The rogue nodded and took the ring. The party headed in; Trebba first, shielding the light as much as she could. Regdar and Ian followed, and lastly Naull and Early came side-by-side.

In truth, Naull expected the cave to simply open into one large cavern, but she realized quickly that that wasn’t going to happen. The orcs were lucky in their choice of lairs. The cave turned into a tunnel that twisted and fell away to the right almost immediately. Trebba uncovered and disabled another alarm or trap—she didn’t bother telling them which it was—and the party started moving a little more quickly.

The passage wound away and down for perhaps a hundred more feet. In the dim light, they could see the next turn, the next dive, and then nothing. The ranger reached out and grasped the rogue’s belt, stopping her short.

“Shh… listen.”

As one, the party held its breath. They heard noises that sounded like speech, coming from ahead of them.

Trebba moved forward alone, returning a few moments later.

“There’s an intersection up there, and some light coming from around the right corner. To the left it’s dark, but it goes up really steeply. I didn’t see or hear anything, but I couldn’t look around without moving into the open.”

Regdar nodded.

“Trebba, Ian, you take point,” he said. “I bet the orcs’re around that way to the right and that’s their living area, but there may be some up and to the left. Be careful.” He turned to Early and Naull and continued, “Early, you go next, with me right behind. When we see around the corner, if it is the main orc lair, I’m gonna want you—” Regdar pointed to the big man there—“to get up front with me in a hurry. Trebba, you drop back with Naull and make sure nothing comes down on us from the left. If things look clear, you can start shooting into the main cavern, but keep those arrows out of our backs.”