Yay, it's the end!
Book 2 starts on Monday.
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Chapter 72
A LATE NIGHT FRACAS
“Where’s Varo?” Talen asked.
“He’s getting your pack,” Dar said.
The captain went back into the cave to help the cleric. Dar looked over at Allera.
“Well, princess? Did you think we’d make it out of there?”
But before the healer could respond, the old monk raised a hand. “Do you hear that?” Setarcos asked.
They listened, and made out a faint sound on the afternoon breeze. It was barely audible, but Dar recognized it.
“It sounds like a battle.”
Dar stepped out onto the hillside, ignoring the brambles that tugged at his legs. The hill rose up to the south behind them, but Dar headed toward forward, to the northeast, where their current hill abutted the shoulder of another that ascended in a gentle rise to the north.
“Dar... wait for Talen!” Allera cried softly after him, but he was done waiting around for people, or taking orders. He was surprised to hear the others hurrying after him; Setarcos, Allera, even Kupra.
It took them only about ten minutes to reach the crest of the far hill. The sounds they’d heard earlier were slightly louder, now, and Dar thought he could make out distinct sounds within the mélange of noise that battles produced; the clash of weapons, the screams of dying men.
The dark horizon of the crest was marked by clusters of squat boulders. Dar moved toward the nearest, wary now, his club in his hand. His boots crunched on the dry brush, but otherwise he was a shadow in the night.
Finally, he reached the top of the hill, giving him a decent view of the surrounding terrain. And of the source of the noises they’d heard.
“Oh, this is too much,” Dar said, with a chuckle.
Ahead, about a mile distant, he could see the depression that marked the site of Rappan Athuk. From his current vantage, he couldn’t clearly see into the graveyard; even the mausoleums were just deeper shadows within the bowl.
A fort had been constructed on a low rise on the far side of the ruin. Sobol must have had his soldiers chop down every tree within ten miles; the fighter didn’t remember seeing much in the way of forests on their way to the dungeon. The place didn’t look like much, the rude stockade enfolding an area maybe forty feet square, barely enough to hold all of Sobol’s forces, let alone their mounts and supplies. Squat towers had been erected at two opposite corners of the fort, and torches had been set all around the perimeter, blazing back the night.
The place was under attack by a considerable army. Humanoids of some sort, it looked like; Dar couldn’t quite make them out at this distance, except to see that they were about man-sized. Orcs, maybe, or hobgoblins. There were a few larger creatures in the mix that looked like ogres, or maybe trolls. The attackers used no lights of their own, and when they entered the radius of the light from the fort, they were moving fast, charging toward the stockade walls.
Thus far, it looked like the defenders were holding, but it was clear that they were completely surrounded. Dar could make out the wreckage of what looked like several camps around the perimeter of the dell, and scattered lumps that were probably bodies. Dar was surprised that the soldiers of Camar had stayed as long as they had, and he wondered if Sobol was still there, inside the fort.
A surging pillar of flame roared down from the heavens, blasting a knot of large creatures making for the front wall of the fort. Well. It looked as though the soldiers still had their cleric with them, in any case.
“Who are those people?” Setarcos asked.
“Soldiers of Camar,” Dar said.
“Are you going to help them?” the monk asked.
Dar looked at him in surprise. “Crap, no!”
“They serve the Duke, but the individual soldiers are just common men,” Allera said. “They cannot all be held to blame for the actions of their commanders.”
“Listen, priestess,” Dar said. “Those pricks are the ones that threw me and the others—including your marshal, in case you’ve forgotten—into that gods-damned pit. If I go over there at all, it’s to shove three feet of steel into the guts of that bastard Sobol.”
A sound from behind them drew their attention around. It was Talen and Varo. They didn’t have the brazier with them, but Dar knew that the cleric wouldn’t let them leave without it. “What’s going on?” the captain asked.
“See for yourself,” Dar said. “Looks like the Duke’s men are having a bit of trouble.”
Talen looked out over the battlefield. “It is not our concern,” he said.
“But Talen,” Allera began.
“No, Allera,” he interrupted. “Our mission here may have failed, but we have a more important one, remember?”
She lowered her head, but nodded.
The captain looked up at the others. “As far as I am concerned, our time together has come to an end. Mercenary, our pact is concluded; I am happy to be quit of you.”
“The feeling’s mutual, captain.”
“Where will you go?” Allera asked.
“Anywhere but here,” he responded.
“Priest, we are done with you as well, and I cannot say that it has been pleasant knowing you.”
“Fair enough,” Varo said.
Talen looked at Kupra and Setarcos. “Mage, I do not feel equipped to be your judge for anything that you have done while serving that madman. Go, and I strongly suggest that you keep going until you are far from here.”
“Talen, we can’t just leave her here,” Allera said.
“Indeed, I would appreciate it if we could accompany you to Camar, if is your intention to return there,” Setarcos said. “From there, I can arrange for a ship back to Drusia, and perhaps can help Kupra... readjust to a new life.”
“Staying with us will not be a boon to you,” Talen said. “We are marked for death in Camar, all of us. We are rebels against the authority of the Duke.”
“Ah. And yet you will return?”
Talen nodded.
“Well then, it still seems like we would be better off journeying in your company. From what I can see from here, the road north is a dangerous one, and I expect that you will be especially vigilant when it comes to avoiding... trouble... on the way. When we reach Camar, we will depart your company and burden you no more.”
Talen looked down at Allera. “Very well,” he said. “But just the two of you. I have had quite enough of the rest of the ‘Doomed Bastards’.”
“Don’t worry, you won’t cross my path, captain,” Dar said. He shrugged his pack up over his shoulders, and turned away. But Allera stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“What?”
“Good luck to you,” she said.
“I make my own luck,” he shot back. But then his expression softened slightly. “Don’t throw your life away for your cause.”
“Some causes are worth it,” she said, not meeting his eyes.
“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t know.” Turning away again, he walked down the hill, until the night had swallowed him up.
“What of you, cleric?” Talen asked.
But Varo was already gone.
The four remaining survivors of Rappan Athuk adjusted their packs, and retraced their steps back down the hill. Talen led them well to the east before starting north, giving the Dungeon of Graves, and the embattled soldiers of Camar, a wide berth.
Within minutes, the hillside was quiet again, save for the distant sounds of battle that filtered down across the crest to the north.
THE END OF BOOK 1
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
