The Vacant Throne - Ed Greenwood [147]
26
Death, Old Spells, and Old Enemies
The Lady of Jewels shook her head in disbelief. "It's a good thing my ancestors believed in magical junk," she said, thrusting tankard after figurine after knickknack into the pouches of the slinger's belt Hawkril had given her. He'd taken it as battle booty, long ago, and had never found useless trifles enough to fill all of the pouches that had been meant for sling-stones. "I can't believe there are still roomfuls of such trifles for us to plunder!"
"Just be glad we have them," Hawkril growled from behind her. "I've no love for spellhurling, but healing you took five of the ugliest little statues I'd ever seen."
Embra shook her head ruefully as she turned to smile at him. "I don't doubt it."
Across the room, Sarasper was stuffing his own row of enchanted oddities into pouches and satchels and boot-tops-and Embra suspected that Craer was carrying a dozen more or so hidden within his clothing, that he wasn't admitting to.
They were standing in a huge, high chamber at the heart of a huge round tower at the southern end of the Silent House. Overhead was a magnificent vaulted ceiling, held up by several massive stone pillars. The walls were girt in dark and once-splendid wood paneling, but long years of water seeping from above had damaged panels and several once-splendid tall cabinets of the many that stood around the walls, their display shelves empty of all but dust and cobwebs. Wherever the water had touched, it had left wood mold-splotched, blistered, and sagging.
After two more vicious little fights in the darkness, Sarasper had healed his companions enough that they could all stagger, and led the way hence. On that painful journey, he'd walled the Four away behind no fewer than six locked and barred doors.
Since arriving here, they'd slept and eaten and been healed and slept again, and had heard at least two of those doors forced open: crashing falls (and muffled groans and curses) caused by the collapses of the upturned tableful of broken furniture Sarasper had balanced behind one door, and the furniture he'd piled against the other.
Intruders were roaming all over the Silent House: warrior bands, mages with their bodyguards, and more. Whenever they met each other, battles broke out. Until someone with a crossbow had objected forcefully, their ranks had included a band of hunters using trained, prowling night-cats-and someone else had animated a corpse to stagger along stiffly clubbing down foes until it had been hacked apart. Dying screams and angry shouts rang out often, and the Band of Four sat in their sanctum and shook their heads in disgust.
Had all Aglirtans become grasping outlaws? The abandoned palace of the Silvertrees was another Indraevyn right now-and even Embra was now determined to cleanse the realm of the greedy Dwaer-seekers wandering its dark halls.
Striding across the room, she firmly tossed away the helm Hawkril had put back on her head and told him with a glare, "I'm not wearing that."
He opened his mouth to reply as it crashed to the floor and rang and rattled its way to silent stillness, but she held up a hand to halt his words and reminded her companions, "None of this has found us a Dwaer-Stone… All it's brought us is armies of fellow Dwaer-hunters."
Three grim and silent nods answered her-a moment before the door of the room burst open, trailing splinters, and armored men charged in, yelling.
"Why, visitors!" Craer cried joyfully, kicking the barrel whose removal would cause a flood of furniture to crash down onto the intruders. "Welcome! This is a pleasure!"
"Ours," Hawkril added with a growl, as he threw the rotting remnants of a once-heavy table overhand at the warrior leading the charge.
The wood smashed the man over backwards as it flew apart-and a moment later his arched body was swept away by the roaring tide of falling furniture that had already claimed his fellows. The groaning, tumbling chaos of heavy wood fetched up against the far wall with a deafening crash-and then, amid the curling dust, silence fell.
The Band of Four