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Gameliel woke his thralls. There were preparations to make, rot to culture, and spells to unsheathe. He wouldn't allow the newest, most important outpost of the Rotting Man's empire to fall back into the idle hands of idiot druids. He glanced at the dark shape that still hung impaled on one of the great stones, smirking.

The blightlord felt the weight of the Keystone's cord around his neck. With it, Gameliel possessed the power of the Mucklestones. There was no place the Rotting Man and his most powerful servants could not penetrate at whim.

First, he had to prepare the ambush.

CHAPTER 9

When darkness failed, they broke camp.

Marrec thought the woods were too quiet. In forests to the west, he would have been able to identify the calls of over a dozen species of birds in as many seconds. Instead one crow cawed in the distance as they set out that morning, and for the next several hours he heard nothing more.

"Is the forest usually so…" began Marrec.

"Silent?" finished Elowen. "No." She frowned. "Even yesterday, if you recall, all seemed well. Something's changed."

"It's Gameliel," spoke Ususi from behind them. She continued, "His influence may extend beyond the Mucklestones, and we are close to the circle. I begin to feel the stone shapes in my mind."

"If we are close, we need to be cautious," advised Gunggari, who rode abreast of Marrec and Elowen.

"Agreed," nodded the elf hunter. She added in a tentative tone, "I worry about Briartan."

Marrec said nothing. If Briartan were responsible for the Mucklestones, he doubted the man had come to any good with Gameliel's arrival, or worse, Briartan had been co-opted. He'd seen similar things in the past. They'd find out what was really going on in just a few miles.

He said, "We need a plan, of course."

Gunggari smiled and waited.

"First, let's hear more about this Gameliel," said Marrec. "What should we be prepared for? What does it mean when you say he is a blightlord?"

"The blightlords serve the goddess called Talona," said Elowen. "They are corrupt priests who revel in rot and decay. Their plagues and blights have transformed the western reaches of the Rawlinswood into a foul green hell of diseased monsters and deadly poisons. Gameliel is but one of three, that we know of. Always they seek to infect the healthy forests and lands nearby with the same sickness that is rapidly destroying the ancient Rawlinswood. Though they ultimately serve Talona, their direct master is the Rotting Man, the one who stands highest in Talona's putrid grace."

"What're the other two called again?" wondered Marrec

"Anammelech and Damanda."

All were quiet for a moment, absorbing Elowen's words.

Marrec finally said, "Gunggari should sneak ahead and scout when we get a little closer, then report back. He's good at that sort of thing."

"I'm going with him," stated Elowen. "I also know a thing or two about forest craft."

"Great," said Marrec. "We'll proceed at a slower pace. Double back when you have the chance. Give a signal if you need help."

"What signal?" wondered Elowen.

"If I can not reach my dizheri, I will yell for help," said Gunggari.

Elowen smiled. She and Gunggari dismounted, then forged ahead, melting into the greenery.

***

They moved through the forest. Like leaves on a breeze, from the shadow of one tree to the next, Elowen and Gunggari closed on their goal.

Elowen called upon her stealthcraft, gratified to see that Gunggari knew at least as much as she. To many of her race, surreptitious forest travel came naturally. Elowen liked to keep her techniques in the forefront of her mind. She felt that by doing so, she was all the better at evading detection.

For instance, movement itself is a target indicator. The eye is drawn to movements, so a stationary target may be impossible to detect, and even a steadily but slowly moving target might go unnoticed. Quick, jerky movements are almost always seen, so her slow but silky movements from bole to trunk were deliberate. She didn't give herself