Troll Hunter, part 4

From the window of the tower where the dwarfs had lodged them, Elysia looked down the cobbled street. Outside, the snow had begun to fall; behind her, the others argued in low voices.

"I don't like it," Zauber said. "Who knows how extensive an underground area can be? We could search to the end of the world and not find the sword. I thought the dwarfs were guarding it."

"We must have faith." Aldred replied, his tone calm and implacable. "The Father wants us to find the sword, and we must trust that he will guide us to it."

"Aldred, if Father wishes the sword to be returned, why didn't he place it in the hands of your three brothers who have gone before us?" Zauber asked, a hint of hysteria creeping into his voice.

"Who am I to speculate on the All-Father's motivations? Maybe it wasn't the right time. Perhaps he wants to test our faith. In me you will not find an unbeliever. You don't have to come with us if you don't want to."

At a distant point in the ruins, Elysia glimpsed a cold green light, and the sight of it filled her with dread. She motioned for Jules to come over, but by the time the ranger reached the window, there was nothing to see. The ranger looked at her questioningly.

Embarrassed, Elysia turned her eyes to the arguing group. "I'm going crazy?" she wondered, and tried to push that green light out of her mind.

"Sir Frey, what do you think?" Zauber inquired, turning to the dark hero pleadingly.

"I'm going to descend into darkness anyway," Frey replied. "I don't care what you do. Settle your differences."

"We've already lost a quarter of the people who left with us," Zauber stated as his gaze flicked from Jules to Aldred. "What good is it going to do for us to waste our lives?"

"What use would it be to resign but to make our comrades' sacrifice useless?" the Paladin replied. "If we resign, they will have died in vain. They believed that we should find the Dragon Slayer, and they willingly gave their lives."

The paladin's fanaticism caused Elysia uneasiness. Aldred spoke with too much indifference of the men who had given their lives, and yet he also had a cool confidence, which gave his words an irresistible urgency. The catgirl knew that warriors followed men like that.

"You took the same oath as everyone else, Johann. If you want to abjure yourself now, so be it, but the consequences will fall on your immortal soul."

Elysia felt a wicked pity for the mage. Elysia herself had sworn to follow Frey after he saved her life. Then the danger had seemed remote. She shook her head. It was easy to make such oaths when you had no idea what the consequences were going to be, but it was quite another thing to keep them if the path led you to dark places like the fortress of the Five Peaks.

There were footsteps approaching and then, by way of a knock, a knock on the door. When it opened, the dwarf woman they had seen standing by Beliar's throne peered out.

"I have come to warn you," she declared in a deep, pleasant voice.

"Warn us about what?" asked Frey dryly.

"Terrible things are loose in the depths. Why do you think we live in such fear?

"I think you'd better go in" Frey suggested, completely changing his tone of voice, because now he sounded very interested.

"I am Matda Fredotter, keeper of the Book of Memory of the ancestors. I speak with the voice of our ancestors, so you will know that what I tell you will be true."

"Okay," agreed Frey. "From what I understand she was a Priestess."

"You are right" she agreed before beginning with her warning "In the darkness, restless spirits move." She paused and looked at them one by one. Her eyes settled on the dark hero, and lingered on him. "When we first came here, there were five hundred of us, plus a few human allies. The only dangers we faced were the orcs and their followers, and we cleared this tower and parts of the upper city as a prelude to reclaiming our ancient mines."

"We made forays into the depths in search of the vaults of our ancestors, knowing that if we managed to find them, word would spread among our people and others would come here."

Elysia understood the strategy; the news that a treasure had been found would have brought more dwarves to the city. In fact, she felt a bit guilty, because she had attracted Frey and herself.

"We sent expeditions into the deep in search of the old sites, but things had changed from the blueprints we memorized in childhood. There were crumbling tunnels, blocked roads, and botched new roads, dug by the orcs and interconnecting with our own."

"Did Prince Beliar lead any such expeditions?" she wanted to know Frey.

"Yes, he did," replied Matda, and Frey looked at Elysia.

"So, at least that part of what he said is true," commented the dark hero.

"Grimmir was daring and he searched deeper and further than all the others. What did he tell you?" Frey began to study his feet.

"That he had met the biggest troll he had ever seen in his life…, and he had run away."

"Frey doesn't know how to lie well." Elysia thought. There was no way the priestess hadn't noticed that she was hiding something, but Matda showed no sign of noticing anything unusual.

Elysia thought back to one of the last nights they had spent in distant Riverheim, in the dwarf's hammer tavern, when the stunningly drunk Grimmir had told Frey the story. The dwarf and Frey were so drunk that they even gave the impression of having forgotten that there was a lady present, and they spoke, excitedly, in a mixture of human language and dwarf language; it was surprising for Elysia to discover that Frey was able to speak the Dwarven language almost perfectly. At the time, Elysia had assumed that they were just trying to one-up each other by telling exaggerated stories, but now she didn't feel so sure.

"So that was what terrified him... We thought it was the ghosts," Matda said. "One day, when she came back from the depths, her beard had turned completely white. She didn't say a single word, but she just walked away."

"You have spoken of terrors that haunt the deep," Zauber interrupted.

"Yes. The patrols that went down there soon began to speak of ghosts of ancestors. The spirits howled and moaned, imploring us to release them from the bondage of undeath. Little by little, our initial success was reversed. What dwarf can bear the sight of his kin torn from the bosom of the ancestral spirits? Our forces lost courage, and Prince Beliar led an expedition to find the source of the evil. The contingent was destroyed by those lurking in the depths. Only he and a few close associates returned, and they have never spoken of what they found. Most of the survivors fled to their homeland, and now there are barely a hundred left to defend the tower."

The color drained from Elysia's face. She had never shown such fear. She was capable of cautiously dealing with any living creature, but this talk of ghosts had sapped what little courage she had.

"Now I have warned you" concluded the priestess. "Do you still want to go down into the depths?"

Frey stared at the fire, as all eyes in the room fell on him. The catgirl had a feeling that if Frey abandoned his purpose, maybe even Aldred would give up, since the paladin seemed convinced that Frey was the ally of his prophecy.

Frey gripped the hilt of his sword so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and he took a deep breath; afterwards he gave the impression that he was forcing himself to speak, he seemed somehow nervous.

"Man or spirit, alive or dead, I fear him not," he declared in a low, unconvincing voice. "I will go down. There's a troll there I have to meet."

"Well said," replied Matda. "I will lead you to the entrance to the lower levels."

"It will be an honor," declared Frey as he bowed.

"Tomorrow, then," she concluded, and got up to leave.

Frey opened the door for her, and when she had left, she dropped into the chair, dropped the sword, and held onto the armrests as if she was afraid of falling. He seemed very nervous.

♦ ♦ ♦

In the side of the mountain there was a huge entrance and, above it, in the rock, a large window protected by a cantilever of red slate tiles, many of which had fallen. It was as if a tower had been built and then sunk into the ground so that only the highest parts were above the ground.

"This is the Silver Gate," explained Matda. "The Silver Road runs to the Upper Barns and the Long Staircase."

"Thank you," Elysia said.

Frey gave Priestess a nod. Aldred, Jules, and Zauber all bowed in thanks, all looking very somber.

They began to check the headlights and replacement oil. They had plenty of provisions, and their weapons were oiled and freshly sharpened.

Matda reached into the sleeves of his robe, took out a scroll, and handed it to Frey, who unrolled it, glanced at it, and then bowed deeply.

"May all the ancestors guide you on your way," Matda said, and made a peculiar sign of blessing over them all.

"May the blessing of the Father, The Mother and The Son be with you and all your clan" replied Aldred Keppler, Cruel Sword.

"Let's go," Frey decided, and everyone grabbed their equipment and passed through the arched entrance, marked with ancient dwarven runes that time had not yet managed to erode.

Once on the other side, they were plunged into shadow and chill, and the catgirl couldn't suppress a shudder. Her sixth sense told her that bad things would happen.

The light from the great window dimly illuminated the path that descended into darkness, and she marveled at the precision of the dwarves' engineering. At the top of the slope, she stopped and looked back. Priestess and her escort stood at the entrance, and when she waved a hand at her, Priestess raised an arm and waved in dismissal. Then they began their descent, and the surface lands disappeared from view, while the catgirl wondered if any of them would ever see the light of day again.