Montoya Valley, chapter 9

Caine was asleep, leaning against one of the stone biers in the mortuary house. Cirra knew that he had put up necromantic wards across every exit; no one could enter or leave the stone building without his knowledge and permission. But still, she had to do something. Barely whispering, the ropes around her wrists loosened, falling to the floor. She rubbed her hands, then bent over and untied her feet.
The place was dark, thin rays of sunlight filtering in through cracks in the walls. But it was enough. She traced symbols in the air before her, magical walls rising and thickening, absorbing their energy into her skin. She paused, carefully steadying her mind. Working powerful magic like this wasn't common, and the healing powers were of a different sort.
With another whispered word, her magical sight slowly rose up over her eyes. The necromancy lay heavy over the door, and over the small windows near the roof. But then she noticed another, faint spot, near one of the biers. It was hollow, she realized ... hollow, leading down to a tunnel. Where it led, Cirra knew not, but it was obviously an escape route of some sort.
She slipped out of her riding boots, and her footsteps were silent as she walked around to the back of the bier. She scanned her father once before kneeling down, checking to ensure that he was still asleep. Then she examined the side of the stone bier, tracing her fingers slowly along the side of the carved granite face. She traced the mostly regular outline of the panel, then started searching in earnest for the secret switch. Her father had mentioned, once long ago, a secret escape from the castle, so perhaps this was where it led.
Several minutes later, she found the switch. A carved skull, in the image of Thanatos, the Grim Reaper, would pull out. Carefully, she grasped the figure, and pulled. A soft click came from the panel, and she tensed. Yet Caine still seemed to be asleep, so she moved over, and pulled on the loose panel. It swung open, silently but so slowly, and carefully Cirra climbed down into the darkness. Her magical sight showed her the ladder, old and rusty, but still strong enough to hold her weight. The panel started to swing shut, and she climbed down the ladder, into the tunnel.
A soft click from above came just after all the light vanished. With a deep breath, she started to reach for her magic, but a sudden light arose. A specter, a young man, appeared before her, his ghostly form glowing with a powerful light of his own. "Hmm," he mused, "you look familiar. Rather like that overbearing giant upstairs. You're not Irini, are you?"
Cirra shook her head, too surprised to speak. "Oh, drat. I suppose that would have been too easy. Still, you know a little about the magical arts yourself. I'd like you to do me a favor, in return for my help in getting you away from Caine."
She scowled, and confronted the specter. "What do you mean, your help? I got out of there without any sign of your meddling!"
"Yes, well," he chuckled, "if I wasn't here, keeping him asleep, and blocking this tunnel from his sight earlier, you wouldn't have had any escape route. Now, this is what I need you to do --"
"Hold it! I haven't agreed to anything!" Cirra was still tired, but she thought she had enough magic to stop the ghost if she needed to.
He stopped and looked at her. "Should I call Caine, then? Open that secret panel, with the skull switch and lead him down here?"
She scowled again, clenching her fists. "What do you need me to do, ghost?"
"Now, that's more like it! There was a blue topaz, with a star in the center, which used to be in the castle treasury. As a young mage, a long time ago, I accidentally trapped my soul inside of that stone. Your grandfather managed to put enough warding spells on the stone to prevent me from gaining my life back.
"All I want you to do is get the stone from the scout, Diego, who is carrying it, and bring it here to me. And I'll make sure Caine can't find you until you've brought me the gem, and are safe again back at the castle." He smiled, trying to show some warmth and sincerity to cover his lie.
She considered for a moment. "Where is the scout?"
"Right now, he should be on the road back to the castle. The tunnel comes out not too far from the road, so you should have a few minutes. If you hurry." The magi vanished, waiting to see what she would do.
He had no intention of letting her live. Not that he had anything against her, but the spell to restore his body and his life required the sacrifice of another. And while any human would do, a mage and healer like her was better. He watched her summon up a small, glowing green light, and start off down the tunnel.
But then, something unexpected happened. Flynn stepped forward, from the darkness of the tunnel, and Cirra stopped. The magi flinched; the magic he knew dealt very little with the walking dead. She started backing away, retreating towards the ladder, as Flynn crept forward, feinting and darting with his talons.
In the mortuary house above, Caine awoke. Something was happening through the brand, but it was coming from below him. Then he remembered the tunnels, leading from the castle to the stone bier, and other exit holes in the forest. With a snarl, he walked over to the correct bier, and yanked on the skull switch. Looking down inside, he saw Cirra, unbound and backed up against the ladder by Flynn. "You're trapped, Cirra. Might as well come back up here and enjoy the company of your father, before he forgets what other undead are guarding those tunnels.
Silently, Cirra cried in despair, but slowly extinguished her light, and turned to climb the ladder. The magi swore to himself; yet another perfectly good plan, foiled by that ghoul. If he hadn't attacked the caravan, he could have gotten the girl then! More planning was obviously required ...

They limped along the road. After another healing potion that morning, Jack was able to walk. But all of them were worn out, and the encounter with the caravan had left them depressed. They stumbled down the road, but despite their appearance, the goblins and orcs left them alone. It was almost noon before they reached sight of the castle, with the caravan wagons pulled around in a half-circle against one wall.
Fighting to hold their heads high, the five moved towards the gates, hearing but ignoring the surprised whispers of the farmers and militia they passed. Soon they managed to reach the gates themselves, waiting for the guards above to raise the portcullis. After several seconds of waiting, Diego squinted up towards the wall. "Raise the gates! It's Diego, and Romero, back with who the Duke wanted us to find!"
The soldier leaned over the wall. "I'm not letting the ugly one in 'til he surrenders his sword to me." He hawked, and spit, narrowly missing Lenk. In response, the goblin drew the sword, pointed it towards the wall, and summoned the blue flames. The soldier stared for a moment, then shouted an alarm. Soldiers came running from the courtyard, many stopping in confusion, seeing two scouts, and Higgins, weapons drawn to guard the goblin.
Gerard heard the alarm from the front of the keep, where he was walking with the caravan master. In surprise, they both turned around, running towards the gates. As Gerard saw the flaming blue sword, and the scouts, he tried to shout over the soldier's confusion. Finally, he reached the portcullis itself, and hammered on it with the flat of his blade until the mob of soldiers quieted.
"Diego, Romero, glad to see you've returned." The Duke slowly took in the other three. "So. It looks like Pureflame has adopted you, Lenk. I always thought you were a bit odd for a goblin." The two stared at each other in silence. "Where's the gem?"
Diego stepped up to the portcullis, and pulled the small starred gem out of his pouch. With a bow, he presented it, and Gerard examined it for a moment. "Good. Glad to see that at least you got back alive." The Duke stepped back, and looked up at the battlements. "Guard! Raise this gate!"
The astonished guard peered over the side, looking down at his ruler. "But, sir, that goblin is armed! With a magical sword, and -- "
He trailed off as Gerard pointed to the captain. "Captain, get that man off my wall, and put someone up there who can tell the difference between a monster and a paladin!" Diego and Romero looked at each other for a moment, and Lenk slowly put the sword away, back onto his belt. The gate went up after a moment, and Gerard gestured for them to come inside the walls. The scouts both bowed again, and Higgins gave a dwarven salute to the caravan master. "All of you, follow me. I need to know what happened out there."
With another nervous glance, the group followed the Duke up to the castle. The soldiers watched, and whispered, to themselves. Quietly, one man in the back said something about which was a greater danger -- Caine and his undead, or the goblin tribes?

They stopped in a sitting room on the ground floor. The caravan master had followed the group, talking in low tones with Higgins about the wares to trade. Though Gerard gestured towards the scattered chairs, only Jack sat down, taking a moment to massage his leg. "Now," Gerard said, looking around the group, "what all happened? Lenk, how did you find the sword, Pureflame?"
The goblin looked at the sword for a moment, then carefully pulled it free from his belt and offered it, hilt first, to Gerard. The Duke looked at it for a moment, then reached out. With only the slightest touch, he could feel the magical power in the sword, one of the most powerful items he would probably ever touch. And he could feel, that though he was a good and honorable person, the sword was not his to wield. Almost reluctantly, he handed it back to Lenk. "Where did you find Pureflame?"
The goblin shrugged. "I didn't know that was the sword's name, though it doesn't surprise me. It was in the pit underneath the privy, shoved into a crack in the rock wall." Jack started to cough, obviously trying to cover a laugh. "What's wrong Jack, think it's funny for me to jump into an outhouse?"
Jack shook his head. "Not exactly. Just think it's about the last place anyone would look for a paladin sword. After all, no one would want to jump down the outhouse pit, would they?"
Lenk watched the thief for a moment, then nodded. "No, they wouldn't. There was a hole, which opened into some corner of the cellars. I heard Jack sneaking about, and watched him get shot by the trap inside the treasure room. I tried to leave him there, but ... but the sword wouldn't let me." He stopped to look at the blade again, staring at the faint etchings of flames.
"After I heard the statue attacking him, I ran back. Somehow, the flames came forth, and I knocked the thing down. From there, we fled through the passageways, finding the one tunnel to the outside. After spending all day working our way west, we stopped for the night. I'm not sure what time it was, but the dwarf, and the scouts found where we were hiding. The dwarf had some kind of spell laid on him by Caine, which the sword burned away."
Lenk shrugged, and Gerard noticed his arm. "It did the same thing to your brand, I see." The goblin nodded, and the Duke turned to the two scouts. "So, what happened once you left the tunnels? The other guards mentioned your fight against the orcs."
Diego nodded, and took a deep breath. "We tracked them west until almost nightfall, Romero tracking while I kept most of the orcs and goblins away from us. About then, we were deciding to return to the castle for the night, when Higgins came tramping through the brush. It was pretty obvious that something was wrong with him, since he didn't recognize us. He seemed to know where Lenk was, so we followed him to their shelter. Jack and Lenk accepted your offer of a peaceful return, and then Higgins tried to attack Lenk.
"Well ... I'm not sure how he did it, but the flames surrounded Higgins for a moment, and then he was back to normal. We spent all night, and almost until noon trying to get back to the castle, with Jack's leg. The caravan almost ran us down, because of Lenk." Diego turned to look at the caravan master, who merely shrugged.
Gerard looked at Higgins, who nodded. "Yer Duke ser, I don' recall nothin'! I left the village to go kill me some goblins, and last thing was running into a spiderweb!" The Duke nodded slightly, and stopped to think.
"Alright, look. Higgins, I need you back at your forge. If you know any dwarven magic to put into what you forge, use it. We need something to fight back against the Night Gaunts. Diego and Romero, you two will be back at your normal scouting duties. Jack, for the time being you'll be kept in the castle, under guard. I will have Charmain see to your leg. Lenk," Gerard looked at the goblin, Pureflame still held in his hand. "You and I have a lot more to talk about."
With more bows from everyone, they left the room. Higgins and the caravan master headed towards the wagons, arguing over the price of steel. Diego and Romero, however, stopped short outside the door of the keep, as the captain of the Scouts came their way.
"Morning, soldiers," he said, returning their salute. "I hope you won't let this go to your heads, but there's something else that I need you two for. Apparently, while you two were off tracking down those two thieves, the caravan was attacked, and Lady Cirra kidnapped. Lady Irini thinks that since zombies were the attackers, either Caine or Flynn was present, for a short time.
"Anyway, you two are to report to the graveyard right away, and help protect the gravedigger, while we try to see if Flynn is there. Undead can't move during daylight, but Caine might have more mortal allies, like some of these damnable goblins." They gave a salute, and started jogging out of the castle walls.
"Romero, I have a feeling this isn't the best duty to get right now." His friend just nodded, as they raced each other down the road.

Caine tightened his mouth into a thin smile as he tightened the ropes. It wasn't exactly the best time to do this, but if he waited, the gravedigger and his guards would soon discover him. With a little luck, the ceremony and sacrifice would be finished before they thought to explore the stone house.
Cirra squirmed, still trying to fight back. She doubted that escape would actually be possible, but if she could alert the men outside ... she had been chewing on her gag since she heard them outside, starting the digging on Flynn's grave. The ghoul, however, was still waiting, down below in the black tunnel. Caine jerked on the ropes again, and she felt the sharp burn with the tug on her ankles.
He had lashed her to one of the stone biers. With her own blood he had drawn a pentagram on the floor around it, before tying up the cut on her arm. The dagger was now put away, as he started the necromantic invocations. Cirra could feel the power building around her, but with no voice, and with hands bound, there was nothing she could do to stop it. She hoped, she prayed to Erana, that only the men outside would hear her father's voice, would open the doors and stop it!
But Caine's voice grew louder, and no sign of hope came from outside. He walked around, never smudging a line, drawing a rune in the air at each point, his voice changing pitch and tone. Then he completed the circle, standing above her head. She could see his arm go up, could see his massive sword, the one he named Heartbreaker, come free of the sheath.
Cirra felt it then, the gathering power of her family's curse, the one cast by a kobold queen, before her ancestor had driven the kobolds out of the valley to claim it for his own. She saw the sword come swinging down, then a blaring pain. But the expected darkness did not come. She felt strangely light, and it was so simple to push free, floating above the bier, and looking around. The room looked strangely different, and even the sight of her own body, split almost in two, was not enough to shake her strange calm.
She turned slowly, taking in the whole place. She stopped, though, when she caught sight of a robed figure, leaning calmly against the closed mortuary doors. She knew him, but not how she knew, and as Cirra whispered his name, the figure nodded. "Thanatos."
"Yes. That is I, the Grim Reaper. I have come to bring you to the Underworld, Cirra." He extended a skeletal hand to her, and she slowly reached out for it. "You know, because of your family curse, your place in the underworld will not be an easy one." She nodded silently, and Death turned to face the door. He whistled, though she could not figure how. After a moment, a pale white horse, the color of bleached bone, trotted through the stone doorway. "Meet my horse, Mortis. When I am not traveling on the mortal world, you will care for him."
She looked at the skull face in surprise for a moment, as he lifted her spirit form to the horse's back. As they rode away, off to the world of spirits, he whispered in her ear, "I never liked kobolds much, anyway."

Caine twirled his sword for a moment, splattering the room with more of Cirra's blood. At least, he thought, my daughter helped me once. He could feel the power from her sacrifice, new power swirling through his body and his mind. Heartbreaker slipped back into his sheath, and the hidden panel opened. Flynn looked up as Caine squeezed through the hole, then plunged the tunnel into absolute darkness again.
"Well, at least that's one less person Gerard will have to help him. Now then, since these tunnels lead straight into the castle, we should be able to get into the treasure room fairly easily. Once I have that topaz, and destroy Pureflame, we can destroy the castle." Flynn smiled, fangs extended. Perhaps more than the castle would be destroyed, he thought. In a battle, many things could happen.

Diego and Romero joined the other three militia in the graveyard. As the gravedigger worked with his shovel, they all took turns, either clearing the dirt away or roving the graveyard, watching for any mortal opponents. Before too long, the shovel hit wood, and one of the soldiers jumped down to help clear away the dirt. "It's empty, still," the gravedigger said, pointing to the missing board and the dirt inside. "Don't know where it is now, but it's not in here!" He thumped the coffin for emphasis.
Diego and Romero looked at each other, then almost together turned to regard the stone mortuary house. Side by side, they started walking towards the building. At first the militia seemed confused, but then the three soldiers came trotting after them, flanking out to keep guard. Each Scout took a handle, and tugged, but the thunk from the doors stopped them. "The door's locked. Who has the keys?"
Slowly, with much nervous apprehension, the gravedigger walked over to the large stone doors. "There's not much light from inside, I'm afraid," he said. But he drew a rod from inside his tunic, and slipped it between the doors. After a moment, there was a click, and they pulled the doors open.
Everyone stared in shock for a moment, then one of the militia screamed and turned to run away. The gravedigger had fainted almost immediately, and the other soldiers turned to run also. One fell into the hole, but Diego barely noticed the sound of breaking wood. "Romero, go back to the castle. Find Lady Irini, or Duke Gerard, and get them down here." He swallowed heavily, and looked inside, at the spattered blood and Cirra's body, carved neatly in half.

The magi fumed silently from the shadows, his magical powers keeping him shielded from sight. This wasn't at all how he had planned things. Now the gem, his life, was back in the castle under ward and guard, and the person he hoped would free him was dead. Silently, he fumed, as the lone scout waited at the door. The gravedigger had awakened, and fled back to the village.
He studied Diego. The Scout had to be something special, he thought. Not many humans could stand such a brutal sight as this sacrifice, without running away in terror, with images to haunt them to their final days. Though Diego wasn't watching the body much, instead scanning the forest surrounding the graveyard.
The specter reached out, feeling his faint bond with the topaz. It hadn't been returned to the armory, but he hadn't expected that. Most of the wards had broken or faded away once the stone left. No, instead it had been locked into Irini's workroom, at the top of the tower, behind even better wards, and one specifically attuned to him. There would be no getting the gem there.
He sighed silently, watching as several horses rode up to the open cemetery gate. Diego started forward, pushing one door partly closed. "Milady Irini, I'm sorry to bring you bad news." He bowed, and Romero dismounted, moving to stand beside his friend. The other guards, castle regulars, started moving towards the stone building. "Milady, I would ask that you please don't look yourself. It's ... not an easy sight to take."
Scout and mage gazed at each other for a moment, before she swung down from the horse. "Even so, Diego, I must look. She was my cousin, and I must know how she died." The scout nodded miserably. The group started towards the stone doors, but suddenly gasped in surprise.
The magi looked out, and was surprised himself. Outside the doors, facing the party, was the Grim Reaper! Everyone in sight held themselves perfectly still, as Thanatos turned his skeletal gaze on Diego, Romero, and Irini. "You do not need to be here, Lady," his voice dry and cold. "Your cousin was sacrificed by her father, Caine. Now she serves me, as one of my loyal servants."
Irini trembled, and almost fell to her knees in relief. She had read the prophecy wrong! But still, her poor, kind cousin Cirra ...
"Worry not, Irini. Though my task is not pleasant, I am not a cruel master. Cirra will not face undue hardship, though neither will she enjoy the afterlife." A bare, bone hand reached out to pat the horse's neck, then picked up the reins again. "I am called elsewhere. Perhaps you will turn the prophecy around, perhaps not. But either way, I shall greet you in the Land of the Dead, Irini. And you, Diego, I have a feeling we might meet again, in this world."
The reins snapped, and Thanatos with his horse suddenly vanished from mortal sight. Yet the magi clearly saw them still, as they turned, and marched into the mortuary house to face him. "Relax, forgotten magi. Your death, and your life, will not yet come to pass." Then, as he watched dumbstruck, Mortis dove straight down into the stone floor.

Irini and Diego turned to look at each other, and shuddered. The other guards were shaken as well, and the whole party was glad to silently close the doors to the mortuary, and leave it for another day. Irini thought as she rode, about the strange topaz. After spending much time studying the stone, she had realized that the starburst at the center was actually the life and soul of that long ago mage. And she realized as well, that to loose the spells binding him would require the death of another.
Diego rode back, lost in his own thoughts of the cryptic sentence. Certainly he had no wish to ever again face Death, not in full form like that! But the life of a soldier was scarcely free from danger, and with Caine in the valley, the ancient curse appearing true at last, and he knew that some day, he would fall. But if he must, Diego thought, at least let his friends and family be safe first.

Kiwin sat across from Canaan in the tavern. After their talk with Gerard, the two strangers had helped in the funeral procession. Now, though, the bard's face looked annoyed, as he gestured with a piece of bread. "I still don't understand what you mean about the silver. So it's supposed to reveal my desires, because I'm the holder. But what if I lose control of it?"
The guard scowled, taking a gulp of his ale. "You can't lose control of it. Well, unless you lose control of your own emotions, that is. The silver follows what is in your mind. If you're feeling happy, or angry, or depressed, then the silver will magnify your feelings." Kiwin opened his mouth to interrupt, but Canaan promptly stuffed the bread into the bard's open mouth. "I'm not done yet. Since it happens to be a flute, the magic shouldn't be active unless you're playing. Even with my foot, I have to concentrate on it for the stronger destructive powers to work."
They sat for a moment silently. "It still seems like this is too dangerous to be using." The bard shook his head in disgust. "Makes me scared to just be holding the flute, now." Canaan just chuckled.
"It's not something you can easily get used to. I've had this foot for over two years now, and I still don't think I know that much about it. The silver is only rarely used by my people, and even less by the frost giants of the surrounding Alps."
The warrior sighed, draining the last of his ale. The door pushed open, and a guard gestured to Canaan. With a nod, he rose from his chair and headed out of the tavern, towards the castle walls.