Kavan and Mary the barmaid strolled through the town, arm in arm. Lanara lagged a few feet behind, trying to look as if she weren’t paying attention. It was fairly obvious that Mary desperately wanted to lose the bard and be alone with Kavan, and it was equally obvious that Kavan wanted to make sure that didn’t happen. Lanara had been in enough taverns in her life to know that it was usually the men who had to chase the barmaids, not the other way around. She wasn’t sure why Kavan was so keen to avoid what she’d consider a ‘sure thing’, but figured that it would be entertaining to watch.
“So,” said Kavan, after looking behind himself for the hundredth time to make sure Lanara was still behind them, “what can you tell me about the town? Any mysteries or strange things happen here?”
“Well, there’s the forest outside of town,” she answered. “Tristan lives out there – he’s the local ranger. He’s kind of mysterious, I guess. And of course there’s Dagger Rock. Say, would you like to swim out and see it?”
“Perhaps… another time,” said Kavan hastily. “I’m just hoping we can do something to help out Grog. I’d hate for all of you to lose your jobs.”
“Yes, it would be sad,” she said. “I could probably find something else, but Esmerelda would have a tough time – Yuri fired her because he said she was stealing. I don’t believe it, but a lot of people in this town listen to what Yuri has to say. And I’m sure Sevem and Julia would have trouble.”
“Why?”
“Well, they used to work for Yuri too. But it got rough for them, especially after they got married. Of course Yuri didn’t like Sevem because he’s orc-touched. Well, when Grog came to town six months ago, he offered them a job with better pay and fewer dirty looks. You know, I could show you the spot up by the church where Sevem proposed.”
“Thank you, but I’ve already visited the church this morning. I’d asked you about your mother and the old town priest, remember?”
“Oh, yes.” Mary’s smile faded just a little. “You know, I really don’t want to talk about my parents. All of that was… in the past.”
“I understand.” Inwardly, Kavan scowled. Though he respected her decision, much of the reason he’d agreed to this tour was in hopes Mary might confide in him about what problems her mother and father had had before the fire six years ago. Though it seemed a remote chance, the current priest Hiram had thought there were similarities between the church fire and the one in Grog’s stables last night. Now he would have to focus on remaining cordial to Mary while at the same time avoiding the possibility of a more intimate encounter with her. It all reminded him too much of his past life for his own comfort.
They let the conversation lapse for a moment, listening to the sound of the nearby river. “I’m curious, Mary,” said Kavan after a while, “those orcs staying at the inn. What are they here for?”
“They’re horse traders,” said Mary. “They’ve been in town since winter.”
“Horse traders?” Kavan thought that Dagger Rock seemed a poor place to trade horses. Then a thought sprang into his mind. “Mary, when did the problems with the burglaries and muggings start?”
“A few months ago, I’d say.”
“Was it before or after the orcs came?”
“After, I suppose.”
“And has no one thought to suspect these orcs are behind the crimes?”
Mary thought for a moment. “Well, I suppose it’s been suggested. But they actually do seem to be horse traders – I mean, they haven’t really bought many, because most people won’t sell their horses around her. But even if they are, it doesn’t help Grog much to point it out. They’ve been staying at his inn all this time, after all, and some of the others would just say that Grog was bringing in outside help. It’s no secret that Grog has no trouble associating with those of orc blood.”
“That’s true,” admitted Kavan, “but perhaps if we…”
Their conversation was cut off by a loud yelp from Lanara. They turned to see her being assaulted by an enormous pig. The swine had a glazed look in its eye and foam dribbling from it’s mouth as it slammed into the cansin, nearly knocking her over. They heard a shout, and saw a farmer rushing over to them, waving his arms wildly. The farmer attempted to pull the pig off Lanara, but for his trouble the animal turned on him and began biting and stomping him.
“Do something!” Mary cried.
Kavan pushed Mary behind him and took a defensive stance. He attempted to move in, hoping to subdue the animal with the flat of his blade. But in its frenzy it lashed out at anyone who came near before turning its attention back to assaulting both Lanara and its terrified owner. Kavan saw that the massive pig could seriously injure or even kill one of them in its rabid state. Quickly, he focused his will and muttered a brief prayer.
“Blessed Goddess, she who fills the Chalice of Life, I pray you now take your measure from this creature.”
Kavan extended a hand and touched the pig on the back. Divine power coursed through the animal, and its eyes went wide. Blood spurted from the pig’s mouth, spraying Lanara’s skirts, and the beast fell lifeless to the ground.
Kavan helped the shaken farmer to his feet while Mary went to aid Lanara. “I’m sorry I had to do that,” he said. “I will compensate you for the loss…”
“Nonsense,” said the farmer, “if anything, I should be compensating you. I’m the one who let Hildy here bust loose before I could take the mallet to her skull.” He pointed over to his house, where a heavy wooden mallet leaned against the wall next to a broken section of fencing. “You probably saved my life,” he added.
“I’m only glad no one was seriously hurt,” Kavan said. Behind him, Lanara cleared her throat loudly. She was limping after twisting her knee in the fall, and her arm bled where she’d been bitten. Kavan stepped over and healed her injuries before returning to the farmer. “What’s your name, good sir?”
“Elmo,” he said, extending a hand. “Say, if I could ask you folks to help me haul Hildy back over to the shed and get her on the hooks, then I’d like to invite you back to my place this evening for a pig roast. Bring your friends.”
“We wouldn’t want to impose,” said Kavan.
“Yes we would,” said Lanara, her wounded pride forgotten at the thought of roast pork.
“Please, I insist. It’s not like I’m going to be able to eat the whole thing myself. Besides, it tastes better fresh.”
“Very well,” said Kavan. “My friends and I will come back this evening. Thank you for the invitation.”
When they had finished, the three decided to head back to the Happy Half-Ogre so that Lanara could change clothes. Mary and Kavan sat downstairs while Lanara headed up to their room. While waiting, Kavan began rubbing his right shoulder.
“What’s wrong?” asked Mary.
“I may have strained my shoulder while trying to subdue that pig,” he said. “Having to carry it back to Elmo’s house didn’t help matters.” He sighed. “Well, it’s nothing a back massage wouldn’t cure,” he said casually.
“Oh, well, then you just sit there and relax!” Mary said, jumping up. She began massaging Kavan’s shoulders, leaning in close enough that he could feel her bosom brushing up against the back of his head. Kavan closed his eyes and groaned. He’d walked right into that one. Old habits, he thought wearily to himself.
Upstairs, unseen by both of them, Lanara leaned over the railing and watched them, smiling. Barmaid one, elven priest zero, she thought.
* * *
On the way back from the general store, Kyle and Autumn ran into Arrie. “Any news?” she asked.
“Not really,” Kyle said glumly. “The kids weren’t as observant as we’d hoped, and Barak was pretty tight-lipped about his opinion on Grog. Even with Autumn there to help smooth over my, well, directness,” he flashed a small smile at Autumn, “he wasn’t about to talk to us about it.” He sighed heavily. “Well, at least I got a good set of waterskins while I was there.”
“Speaking of water,” said Arrie, “I’m thinking of going swimming. I asked Tolly, but apparently clerics of Ardara the Earth Goddess aren’t too keen on water. Of course, since he never takes that breastplate off it’s probably a good thing. Want to come with me?”
“That sounds good,” said Autumn. She and Arrie turned and began walking toward the river, but stopped after a few paces. They turned to see Kyle standing there.
“Well, are you coming or not?” Arrie asked.
“Me? Oh, well, I sort of assumed that you were only talking to your sister.”
“No, of course you can come with us. You can swim, right?”
“Well, sure, well enough I suppose.” Kyle fell in behind them.
The three of them walked toward Dagger Rock, Arrie talking about what she and Tolly had learned. Once they reached the river, they found a small ledge near the bank where they could pile their belongings. The river itself was perhaps a hundred feet wide; they could see a small set of docks extending into the water just south of the Rock.
“I’m going to go out and take a look at that thing,” Arrie said, pointing at Dagger Rock. “It just seems so odd, stuck there in the middle of the river like that.”
“Just be careful,” said Autumn. “Kyle and I will stay nearby.”
“Hey, I’m a better swimmer than you, Autumn,” said Arrie. “How about you, Kyle?”
Kyle looked up as he folded his yellow robes. He’d been thanking his lucky stars that he’d decided to wear his breeches under his robe today. Had it been the hot summer months instead of spring, he might have had a potentially embarrassing situation to explain to these two young women. “Oh, I’m sure you could swim circles around me, Arrie. But we’ll hang close just in case.”
The three dove into the water and began to make their way to Dagger Rock. Arrie reached it well ahead of the others, and began exploring the strange obelisk. A lip of stone protruded from the dagger a few feet under the surface, allowing her to walk around it. She circled the stone twice, then dove under to explore the surface. She came up with a quizzical look on her face.
“What is it?” asked Autumn.
“I’m not sure,” said Arrie. “I’m not an expert in geology or anything, but the base just seems odd. I mean, it looks and feels natural, but it’s a very… square kind of natural, you know what I mean?”
“Like it was man-made?” asked Kyle.
“Sort of, but not really. I mean, it doesn’t seem like it was carved.” She looked up at the top of the dagger-shaped stone, thirty feet over her head. “I think I’ll see what’s up there.”
Arrie tried to climb the stone dagger, but the obelisk’s sheer surfaces made the task difficult, and the fact that Arrie was dripping wet didn’t help. After a few minutes, she gave up. She, Autumn, and Kyle spent a few minutes casually swimming around Dagger Rock, then returned to shore. As they pulled their outer clothes back on, Arrie looked back at the rock protrusion.
“That’s just going to keep bugging me,” she said to herself.
* * *
The group waited nervously for Osborn to return. The hin had gone out nearly an hour ago to check out the cobbler’s fields. The rest of them sat quietly, drinking slowly. Elmo’s feast wasn’t due to start for another hour at least, and the minutes dragged interminably. They all breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Osborne enter the Happy Half-Ogre. But the look on his face as he approached the table was serious.
“We need to talk,” he said, “but not here.”
After a moment of whispered conversation, the group began to slowly filter out of the inn in ones and twos so as not to attract attention. They met up down at the mill. They all leaned in close to hear Osborn over the sound of the water wheel. Osborn had insisted they meet here so they would not be overheard.
“So I went to the field to look around,” he said, “and I notice a wheelbarrow leaning up against the tool shed. But the dirt in the wheelbarrow didn’t match the topsoil – it came from much deeper. I followed the wheel rut to the stables, where I found a trapdoor covering a tunnel.”
“Just as we suspected when Stonethumb pointed us that way,” Kyle said.
“So I follow the tunnels,” Osborn continued. “And there are a few branches. One of them still seems to be a work in progress, but near as I can tell it’s heading in the general direction of the bank vault.”
“That would seem to support our theory of scaring people into putting their money into the bank so it can be robbed,” commented Tolly.
“Well, let me keep going. One of the other tunnels leads up into a basement. I’m not sure exactly where, but all I saw was a wine rack and a couple of guard dogs. I didn’t stick around to let the dogs get my scent. Another tunnel had human bones in it; kind of spooked me, until I saw there were more bones in the walls, and I realized I was under the graveyard.”
Kyle and Autumn looked at each other. “Ghosts in the graveyard.” Autumn said.
“Yeah, yeah, so anyway I try another tunnel. This one goes up through a well or something, and ends in a little room that I can’t figure out how to get out of. But I figure something’s got to be there, because whoever dug the tunnels set up a tripwire. The best I could guess was that it was somewhere near the center of town.”
“Yuri’s tavern is near the center of town,” Xu observed.
“Yeah, and so’s that other inn, the Hearthfire,” Osborn sighed at the constant interruptions. “Well, I haven’t got to the worst part yet. I finally get to the last tunnel. It kind of narrows down a bit – I was okay, but most of you would have to crawl – which ended in a wooden door with a ring. I open it up, and I’m in a basement. There’s a lot of noise upstairs; people singing, laughing, that sort of thing. It doesn’t take me long to figure out where I am – the Happy Half-Ogre.”
The faces of the party members fell. “That doesn’t look good for Grog,” said Arrie.
“What about those orcs staying here?” asked Lanara. “Kavan had some suspicions about them not really being horse traders.”
“No,” said Kyle, shaking his head. “The tunnels that Osborn described would take months to dig. The orcs have only been here since winter. It’s possible to have dug them in that amount of time, but everyone in town would know about it. For it to stay a secret, they would have had to start last summer at the absolute latest.”
“So, that means that it’s someone in the town,” said Arrie. “Grog’s only been here six months, so he couldn’t have dug those tunnels. Besides, Osborn said they got smaller just before going into Grog’s basement. Most of his crew are pretty big people.”
“So now what?” asked Kavan.
“Tonight Xu will try going out and acting as bait as planned,” said Osborn. “I’ll follow her to make sure she’s all right.”
“I’m meeting one of the orcs out at the stables later,” Arrie said. “They wanted to buy Ghost. I’ll see how much they really know about horse trading, and see what else I can get out of them.”
“Tomorrow we should go back and have a longer talk with the mason Stonethumb,” Tolly said, “and find out exactly how much he knows about those tunnels.”
“There’s still a lot to look into,” Osborn agreed, “but right now we have a date with a pig.”
* * *
The feast did much to lift their somber moods. They laughed and talked as grease dripped from their chins. Lanara played, sang, and danced for the group, and even the normally reserved Xu was inspired to play a tune on a small reed pipe. Arrie and Autumn came dressed in their best clothing; after their trip to Dagger Rock they’d changed clothes and attempted to bluff their way into the bank vault in order to see if it was vulnerable, but they were rebuffed by the banker. As the evening wore on and the fire began to die, Elmo stood up and addressed the party.
“Thank you for coming out tonight,” he said. “What with all the trouble in town it’s been hard to get folks together like we used to. You’ve eased my burden some, and that’s no small thing at my age. I’d like you all to have something.” He reached behind the stone he’d been sitting on and pulled out a dagger, handing it to Kavan. The dagger was made of iron, and was roughly made at best. Obviously not meant to hold an edge, the dagger seemed little better than an oddly shaped metal stick. Mounted in the pommel was an oddly shaped yellowish stone of poor quality. Kavan could tell it was a diamond, though not a very good one, worth no more than a few gold at best.
“I found that, years ago, while plowing my field. I always meant to ask someone about it, but never did. It’s just sat on my mantel collecting dust. I know it’s not much, but consider it a token of my appreciation for your help today.”
Each of the party members said their thanks as they passed the dagger around. Tolly examined it closely, frowning. The workmaship was odd, almost as if it was meant to appear as crude as it did. Then a thought occurred to him, and he held the blade up, silhouetting it against the moonlight reflecting off the river. He moved the dagger until it was even with the dark shape of Dagger Rock. The resemblance was uncanny.
“Arrie,” he said, handing her the dagger, “I think your instinct about Dagger Rock being unusual may be correct.” He pointed out the comparison he’d just made to her.
Arrie contemplated the dagger, a gleam in her eye. “I may have to go swimming again tomorrow,” she said.
Soon the moon was high overhead, though it was barely visible through the clouds. The party helped extinguish the bonfire and cart the meat they’d been unable to finish into Elmo’s home. Sleepily, they returned to the Happy Half-Ogre. When they got in, Arrie began changing out of her noblewoman’s clothing and into her armor.
“Aren’t you going to sleep?” asked Autumn.
She shook her head. “I’m meeting that orc horse-trader at midnight,” she said. “I’ll be back shortly.”
Arrie went outside about a half-hour later and walked around to the stables. The smell of burnt wood and straw still permeated the air as she stepped inside. Patting Ghost on the flank, she saw the trader, Barok, standing at the far end of the building.
“So, Barok,” she asked in Orcish, “I’m here as we arranged. Tell me, what made you decide to buy my horse?”
A toothy grin was his only reply. Suddenly Arrie saw stars as something heavy hit her on the back of the head. Turning wobbily, she saw a second orc standing behind her, a cudgel in hand. He seemed rather surprised that his blow had not dropped the human woman.
Arrie’s chain was out in a flash, whipping out and raking across the thug’s chest. The orc yelped and tried to make his exit, but with another lash of the chain he was on his feet, dazed. Arrie ran up and kicked him right under the jaw with her heavy boot, knocking him cold.
She turned to deal with Barok, but found him splayed out on the ground. Standing over him, a heavy saddle clutched in his hands, the mute orc stablehand Shod glowered at the unconscious Barok. Arrie could see the imprint of Barok’s teeth embedded in the leather of the saddle.
“Nice work, Shod,” said Arrie.
Shod bowed slightly, then pointed toward the inn, and made gestures framing out a very large person.
“Right, go get Grog. Wait here.”
Just then Osborn came running into the stable. “I was out giving Rupert a walk when I heard a commotion,” he gasped. Then he saw the two unconscious orcs on the ground.
“Go get Grog, and the others,” Arrie said, “we have a couple of horse thieves here.”
Within minutes the party was gathered in the stables, where Arrie and Shod had trussed up Barok and his friend. Grog came in soon afterward, carrying a bastard sword and wearing a chainmail shirt draped over his barrel chest.
“So, shall we wake them?” Arrie asked, as Kavan used a small amount of divine power to heal the injury to her head.
“Allow me.” Tolly summoned up his own divine power, and a moment later the orcs were drenched with gallons of water that appeared over their heads. Sputtering, they looked around angrily.
“Allow me,” said Grog, stepping forward. He walked within an arm’s length of the two orcs, looking down at them. His eyes glowed red, and his hair appeared to literally burst into flames. The orcs fell silent as Grog spoke to them in Orcish.
“I am very, very upset right now,” he told them. “I suggest you talk. Now.”
Twenty minutes later the door to the Dagger Rock jail opened, and Grog walked in, dragging one of the two orcs behind him by the feet. The second was brought in by Arrie and Autumn.
“I have here two criminals,” Grog said to Leif, the young guard. “They’ve admitted to trying to steal her horse, and to setting the fire in my stable last night.”
The group watched as Grog and Leif hauled the two terrified orcs into cells. They looked at each other apprehensively; the orcs had also admitted to being paid by someone in town to run them out, but no amount of coercion had convinced the orcs to disclose the name of their employer.
“Well, at least we know for sure someone else is behind all this,” Lanara said.
“Yes, but our adversary remains hidden, while we are vulnerable,” said Xu.
Arrie watched the two orcs as they were locked up. She rubbed the bump on the back of her skull. “Then we just make sure we find out who it is and get to that bastard first,” she said.