Son of Thunder - Murray J. D. Leeder [105]
Vell said, "Another thing I'll have to thank the Shepherds for." He let out a soft chuckle that let Kellin know it was just a bitter joke.
Together in the night, with barbarian warriors sleeping all around them, they clutched each other tightly, nothing more needing to be said.
* * * * *
Rask used the tip of his sword to trace a map of Llorkh in the dust at his feet, digging a furrow around it to represent the ditch. He drove the sword's tip deep into the ground at the city's center, to represent Geildarr's manor and the seat of government for Llorkh: the Lord's Keep. The party hid among the foothills of the Graypeaks, keeping a distant watch on the Dawn Pass Trail to the north, where the occasional caravan crawled to or from Llorkh. They crouched in the tall grass that swayed in the wind as larks chirped their autumn songs.
"Much of Llorkh is unpopulated," Rask explained. "Or so it was. I should remind you that I have not been there in many years. The population dwindled after the mines closed, so the town has many untended, uninhabited buildings. Geildarr fortified the walls and built a great ditch around Llorkh.
"We face one major problem," Rask went on. "Llorkh is a Zhentarim stronghold. It is no place to live, though many do live there, poor souls. In truth, it is a fortress for the protection of caravans, and nothing else. Geildarr's Lord's Men number in the hundreds, and with so many caravans passing through the city, the number of soldiers within the walls is usually high. And there are but eight of us."
"We faced a vastly superior force in the Fallen Lands," Thluna said, "and we were victorious then." He looked at Kellin, then at Vell. "We have a magic user, as we did then, and something else of perhaps even greater power."
"I will do all I can to create havoc. With care, I could collapse buildings, stopping many of our enemies," said Vell. "But it may not be enough. It seems Geildarr is a powerful wizard himself."
"More than that," Rask added, "Llorkh houses a large and powerful church of Cyric. If Mythkar Leng still rules there, he is a mighty spellcaster in his own right, and a cruel-hearted sadist. Once, when I was just a child, my parents and I sat in the Dark Sun temple. As caravan guards, it was required that they occasionally sat in on these ceremonies, though none of us revered Cyric. Leng detected our lack of faith instantly. The service included the ritual sacrifice of an enemy of Cyric, in this case a halfling who Leng said was a Harper agent captured in Loudwater.
"I dared to turn away as they disemboweled him on the altar. Leng took me from the audience and flogged me as Cyricists looked on in amusement, not as punishment for my lack of faith, but for my parents' disinterest." Rask paused a moment at the difficult memory.
"At the center of Llorkh is the Lord's Keep, a well-guarded tower of a building. Surely this is where Geildarr would keep the Heart of Runlatha, if he has not yet shipped it to his Zhentarim masters. So you see what we are up against. A bold assault would be suicide."
"We are prepared for whatever our chief wills," said the warrior Ilskar. "It would be a glorious fate."
Thanar rested a hand on his shoulder. "Glorious perhaps, but not smart. What is our mission here? It is threefold: free the behemoths from their bondage, recover the Heart of Runlatha, and rescue Sungar. For the moment, we do not even know if these things reside in Llorkh."
"I can assure you that they do," said a mellifluous voice. They spun to find Lanaal's delicate elf face staring at them from the long grass. The elf laughed.
"I should have known you would put in an appearance at the right moment," said Rask.
"Lanaal!" Vell said. "How did you find us?"
"It's not hard to find someone when you have so many spies." As if on cue, the larks around her chirped louder. "With my own eyes I have seen your chief