Chapter Six

The Call Of The Mountain

Revafour was in fine spirits again as he took a deep breath of the pure mountain air. It had been over a week and a half since the companions left Gryrax, and today was the first day of Coldeven. Traveling through the southeastern Lortmils, Revafour felt the same joy he’d felt in the Menowood. The beauty of the land, from the singing of the rivers and waterfalls to the blossoming flowers and trees, from the rugged majesty of the mountains to the dazzling starlit sky at night, filled him with wonder at how beautiful the Oerth truly was.

His joy was doubled by the fact that it was just him and his closest friends, without anyone else to distract them or cause them problems. A part of him wished it could always be like that, just them always seeking what was over the next horizon. He knew it wasn’t possible, of course, but he still liked to imagine it.

Just as enjoyable was hunting and foraging for food, gathering the Oerth’s gifts and sharing them with his companions. Earlier that day, he’d taken down a large bighorn sheep which made for a fine addition to the companions’ food. He’d said a traditional Tenha prayer to the Oerth Mother for it, thanking both her and the sheep for their kindness, before returning to the companions’ camp.

Weimar was out foraging, but the rest of the companions were in a good mood themselves when Revafour returned, carrying the sheep over his shoulders. He felt a surge of pride as he saw how his friends benefited from the Flan’s creations. Luna was preparing a tea made from spruce needles, using a traditional recipe he’d taught her. The Raballah had also given the companions a parting gift of bannock bread and pemmican, a type of long-lasting dried meat infused with kara fruits. The foods were ideal for long journeys, and Revafour smiled at how much his friends enjoyed them.

Revafour was also pleased to see how much better Airk’s mood was as well. Airk had a calm, peaceful expression, no doubt because he was back in the mountains he called home. Revafour would have been surprised if Airk wasn’t also looking forward to the end of their quest to return the Crown of Arumdina to Flinthold.

As Revafour set the sheep’s carcass down and began butchering it, Amyalla spoke up. She’d seemed somewhat ill at ease over the last couple of days, and she finally voiced her concerns.

“Are the mountains safe to travel through at this time of year?” she asked, glancing around as if expecting something to happen at any moment. “We’re not in any danger from landslides or avalanches, are we?”

“Not at all,” Airk said, sitting down next to her reassuringly. “These mountains are home to me-I was traveling them for decades before your births,” he said with a half smile. “The route Weimar and I planned out in Thrunch is really safe now that most of the passes are cleared. The main danger in the Lortmils isn’t the mountains themselves-it’s more the inhabitants. The Hateful Wars drove most of the humanoids into the Pomarj, but there are still more of them here than anyone wants to admit.”

“And any inhabitants that threaten us, we know how to deal with,” he finished, a smile broadening across his face as he drew his dagger from his belt.

Revafour and the others all smiled at that, and he resumed butchering the sheep’s carcass. Some forty minutes later, Weimar finally returned, a bulging sack in his hand. He’d mentioned that he was going to search for some yarpick seeds, which were highly nutritious and fine traveling food, and he’d clearly succeeded. Revafour would have been happy at that, but the grim look on Weimar’s face concerned him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, picking up his sword as he and the rest of the companions went to join Weimar.

“We’re not alone around here,” Weimar said as he set down the yarpick bag. “I saw tracks of a large collection of humanoids, and I think they’re on the hunt.”

“What kind?” asked Airk, his expression suddenly alert and deadly serious.

“Bugbears, goblins and hill giants,” Weimar said with a frown. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were out for a fight.”

“Then let’s give them one,” Airk said, twirling his dagger in his hand as his friends nodded.

Seline felt a thrill of excitement as she hid in a stand of trees on the hillside she’d chosen to spring her part of the companions’ ambush. She silently congratulated herself on the variety of  spells she’d memorized. She’d had to be prepared for many different scenarios, and some of the spells she knew now were exactly what she needed

Seline took a deep breath as the monster group passed before her. It was just as Weimar said, as the monster group was formed of three hill giants, half a dozen bugbears and nearly a dozen goblins.

The monsters were passing between two tree-covered hills, approaching a tree-lined gully, paying little attention to the hills on either side. The goblins took the lead, eager to keep the bugbears between them and the hill giants. Hill giants often disliked goblins, and bugbears were frequently mediators between the two races. Goblins often revered bugbears as leaders, while hill giants tolerated them well enough. Breaking up that relationship was key to the companions’ ambush.

Seline chanted softly as the hill giants passed by her, their heads nearly level with the trees surrounding her. Her spell generated a thick greenish cloud that suddenly filled the air around the hill giants, causing them to grunt in surprise and alarm. She cast the spell from memory instead of using the magical wand she carried. She’d gotten the wand recharged in Naerie, and she didn’t want to use its limited powers unless it was truly needed.

As the giants halted in confusion, blinded by Seline’s fog, Weimar suddenly sprang out from behind another nearby tree, shooting a flurry of arrows from his bow into the fog bank. Seline chanted again, casting a series of magical bolts where she’d seen the giants’ heads before casting her fog spell.

Seline heard the twanging of arrows from the hill on the monsters’ other side, and she knew that Revafour was shooting true with his own arrows. She had no doubt that Amyalla was contributing with her sling as well. Despite the fog of Seline’s spell, the hill giants made large targets and were easy for the companions to find with their missiles.

The giants’ grunts turned to shouts of pain and confusion. Unable to see their attackers, they lashed out violently at anything that got too close. One giant slammed his club into another’s shoulder, starting a violent fight between them as the companions’ missiles continued streaking in.

Seline smiled at that. Her fog didn’t completely engulf the giants, and she’d cast it high enough so that their lower bodies remained exposed to her friends’ missiles.

As the bugbears and goblins turned to see what was happening, their attention was suddenly divided by the sound of a gnomish war cry coming from the gully. Airk emerged from the trees at the gully’s trees, charging towards the goblins and swinging a viciously spiked morning star. He was clad in a full suit of plate armor with a dragon-headed helmet, complemented by a shield displaying the moons of Luna and Celene and a ring of stars. Ma’non’go came out of the trees at the same time as Airk, easily matching the gnome’s stride and wielding a long trident. Luna followed behind them, dressed in chain mail with a mace in one hand and a shield decorated with a sunburst emblem in the other.

The goblins, not inclined to help the hated hill giants but all too eager to kill a gnome, screamed a war cry of their own and charged at Airk and his friends. Airk eagerly met them, shattering the first goblin’s helmet and then his skull with a powerful blow from his morning star. He easily deflected the spear thrust of a goblin coming at him from the left with his shield, while he crushed the chest of a third goblin coming at him from the right. Whipping back to his left, he swung his morning star with enough force to knock the second goblin’s head off completely.

Ma’non’go was no less impressive, raking the throat of one goblin with his trident before skewering another. One goblin cut Ma’non’go’s leg with his sword, but Ma’non’go merely scowled as he grabbed the goblin by the throat. Cracking its neck with one flex of his fingers, Ma’non’go tossed its suddenly lifeless corpse at several of its fellows. They scattered in terror, and Ma’non’go quickly ran one of them through.

Luna easily slew the one goblin that charged at her, but she was more concerned with the bugbears who’d broken away from their fellows to support the goblins and were now running at her and her friends. Dropping her mace and pulling a small piece of iron out of her pocket, she chanted quickly, as the iron in her hand crumbled to dust. Her spell took effect as the bugbears closed in, freezing them on the spot. They became completely motionless, seeming like statues made of flesh and blood, able to do nothing but blink and breathe.

The few goblins still alive after the initial assault lost their nerve when they realized the bugbears weren’t helping them. The ones who tried were paralyzed by Luna’s spell, while the others had gone to help the hill giants instead.

Spitting curses at the companions and the treacherous bugbears, the surviving goblins ran for their lives. Luna, Ma’non’go and Airk let them go, racing to help their friends deal with the remaining bugbears and giants.

Revafour smiled as he shot another arrow into the fog cloud where the hill giants thrashed helplessly. He wore a suit of heavy field plate armor, which Luna had cast a silencing spell over so that he could hide in the hillside trees without his armor’s noise giving him away. Luna cast the spell so he could dismiss it whenever he wanted, and he did so when one of the giants gathered his wits and emerged from the fog cloud towards the bugbears running to help him. Revafour set down his bow and emerged from the woods to confront him, drawing the massive two-handed broadsword strapped to his back as he did.

Blood ran down the giant’s torso and legs from the arrows that protruded from his body, but if he felt any pain he didn’t show it. Howling angrily, the giant swung his club at Revafour, who ducked his head while slashing his sword in an upward arc. He cut a gash along both of the giant’s arms as its club passed overhead, and drove his sword deep into the giant’s gut as he leaped forward.

The giant’s breathing became ragged, but he refused to fall. He swung his club downward one-handed as he pulled himself free of Revafour’s blade, slamming the Flan warrior on the arm. Revafour briefly lost his grip on his sword, and the giant slammed him in the chest with his club. The giant was surprised as Revafour winced at the blow but didn’t back away, realizing that the human’s heavy armor took most of the blow. He tried to strike again, but Revafour was faster, cleaving into his chest and driving one of the arrows protruding from it through his heart.

The giant tried to scream, but blood poured from his mouth and he fell dead as Revafour ran to avoid his collapsing body. Looking towards the other hill giants, he saw that one of them had struck the other dead as they fought wildly in the fog cloud. The surviving giant emerged from the cloud, but the side of his head was caked with blood from where the other giant’s hammer had hit him before he died. Revafour expected Weimar to come charging down to attack it, but he heard Amyalla’s taunting voice. The halfling hid next to him when the companions sprung the ambush, and she’d stayed behind when Revafour closed to melee with the giant he’d cut down.

Now, as Seline dispelled her fog cloud, the hill giant turned in response to Amyalla calling out to him. He stared hatefully at the halfling, and moved to pick up a large stone to throw at her. Amyalla was faster, though, hurling a smaller rock right between the giant’s eyes with her sling. Revafour winced at the loud cracking sound Amyalla’s sling stone made, and watched as the giant fell dead. He nodded as he realized that the giant was already badly injured from the companions’ missiles and the blows he took from the other giant, and Amyalla’s sling was just the fatal blow.

Turning around, Revafour braced himself to face the charging bugbears running to help the hill giants. One of them hurled a hammer at Revafour, but he simply deflected it with his sword. Another bugbear hurled a spear past him towards Weimar, who was running to join Revafour. Weimar slid to the ground, letting the spear pass harmlessly overhead, as he shot an arrow into the bugbear’s heart.

The first bugbear came into close quarters with Revafour, chopping at his throat with an axe, but Revafour easily caught the axe under its head and pulled it out of the bugbear’s grip. As the bugbear reached for the dagger at his belt, Revafour tore his head off with a vicious left to right slash.

The last bugbear was advancing on Revafour, but he stopped short when he saw how easily Revafour slew his companion. He turned to run, but Ma’non’go caught up to him. Before the bugbear could bring his sword to bear, Ma’non’go drove his trident into the monster’s face, killing him instantly.

Luna came up behind Ma’non’go, healing his and Revafour’s injuries as Weimar came to join them. Amyalla and Seline followed soon after, and finally the entire group went to find Airk. The gnome warrior had finished off the bugbears Luna paralyzed and was wiping his bloody morning star on their fur as they came up to him.

“Any of them get away?” Airk asked as he slid his morning star into his belt.

“None of the giants,” Seline said, “and it looks like we got all the bugbears too. How about the goblins?”

“Just four of them,” Airk said, shaking his head. “We don’t need to worry about them, but we do need to worry about the weather,” he said, gesturing at the sky above them. The clouds had thickened considerably, and the companions could hear the faint sound of rumbling thunder.

“A bad storm,” Airk said, shaking his head. “You’ve still got that spell ready, Seline?”

“Of course I do,” Seline said, nodding. One of the new spells she’d learned from the scrolls the companions found when they defeated Kalrek Burunne allowed the caster to create a full-fledged cabin. Created by the noted wizard Leomund, the spell was ideal for providing travelers a comfortable place to rest in bad weather or rough terrain.

“Then we should search these bodies and get back to our campsite,” Weimar said, glancing at the darkening clouds. “We have about an hour, if that, before the rain starts.”

The magical cabin Seline conjured resembled a fine cottage of hardened bronzewood and stone, secure against the lightning and rain that poured outside. It contained beds and chairs for each of the companions, a large fireplace over which Revafour’s sheep was roasting, and a wide table where Luna had poured out her spruce needle tea. It also contained a desk, which Airk and Amyalla sat at while they considered the large collection of gems the companions had looted from the monsters they’d slain. Strangely

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Airk said, holding one of the earrings up close to inspect it.

“It could just be a coincidence,” Amyalla suggested, looking at another earring, but her expression showed her uncertainty.

When the companions searched the monsters’ bodies for treasure, all they found were the jeweled earrings each of the monsters wore. Strangely, the earrings’ gems were all some kind of red stones, such as garnets, carnelians, fire opals or even rubies. That was strange, since most humanoids and giants gained plunder from any number of sources. The resulting hoards often had a wide variety of different coins, gems and jewelry.

“I doubt it,” Airk said, shaking his head. “These gems were all cut in the exact same way. Earrings gathered from lots of different sources would all have different cuts.”

Amyalla didn’t doubt him. Gems played an important symbolic role in gnomish culture, and young gnomes’ education often included learning to assess a gem’s cut and value. Airk was no craftsman, but he remembered enough of his childhood lessons to appraise gems well.

“Maybe they robbed a merchant?” Revafour suggested as he walked over to the fireplace and started to retrieve the roasted sheep.

“I suppose,” Airk said with a shrug, “and we can likely get a fine price for them when we reach Rubydepths.”

“You can think about that later,” Revafour said with a smile as he laid the roast sheep on a plate at the center of the table. “Right now, I’d say we’ve all earned a fine meal.”

Airk enjoyed the supper and was grateful for the cabin’s comfortable bed, particularly when the rain poured outside.

Even so, the thought of the strange earrings stayed at the back of his mind.