Into the Wastelands: Book Four of the Restoration Series (20 page)

“See who?” Mikela asked. The others were also watching, they had missed the earlier conversation.

“Enton,” Heather asked. “I could not see him from the top of the hill.” She paused for a moment, trying to determine the best way to proceed. “I think I’ll look to the north, back near where we watched the lights last night.” She hadn’t even take two steps that way, when Dagan interrupted her.

“No need,” the old sorcerer said, “I can sense him to the east.” He looked like he was about to say more, but he paused. His expression changing to one of concern.
“He’s in pain.”

At his words, Atock dropped the bread in the fire and grabbed his swords. Aaron climbed to his feet and buckled on his sword belt. As one the group followed the two sorcerers out of the camp and they wound their way through the hills.

Dagan led them to the eastern side of the field, almost back into the woods. He stopped before the very last hill. This particular hill looked different. While all the others were covered in green grass, this hill looked burnt and singed. The
scorching didn’t look all that
new, perhaps it had been caused by a lightning strike within the last week. They walked all the way around the hill and stopped on the far side. Dagan stared at the hill in surprise.

“Well,” Heather asked, “w
here is he?”

Dagan started and turned. “I believe he’s inside the hill.”

“I’m sor
ry,” Mikela said, “d
id you say inside the hill.”

Nodding, Dagan made to climb the hill, but stopped as Heather spoke.

“Uh, no,” Heather said
, “w
hy don’t you stay down here?” She then turned to Atock and simply nodded up the hill.

Atock didn’t need any additional encouragement but charged the hill and gained the summit in moments. Actually, he stopped just short of the summit as the top of the hill was a huge hole. He peered down into the darkness but c
ould make out little. “Enton?” h
e called out hesitantly.

“Atock! I’m down here.” Enton’s voice called from the depths of the darkness. “It’s too high for me to climb out. We need a rope.”

“Hold on,” Atock said. He then turned to the others at the bottom of the hill. “We need a rope. He fell into a hole and he can’t climb out.”

While Aaron went to fetch the rope, Heather, Mikela, and Dagan climbed the steep slope and arranged themselves all around the hole.
They were forced to lie on their bellies and hang their heads out over the opening.

“Il-lum,” Mikela said, causing a small ball of light to form in the air beside her. With just a thought she sent the ball down into the darkness.

The light lit up the small cavern and to their immense relief, Enton was standing directly under the opening. He was staring up at them, but he was holding his left arm against his chest.

“Are you hurt?” Heather asked, breathing in deep at the sight of
Enton
standing. Dagan’s statement that Enton was in pain had sent a thrill of worry through her. She was sure that she would have felt the same for either Atock
or Aaron
.

In response, Enton held up his left arm and straightened it out in front of him.
He grimaced in pain as he moved the arm.
“It’s not broken but I think I may have sprained it.”

“Quit messing with it, fool.” Atock called out. “Don’t move it until we get you out of there and can look at it.”

Enton slowly lowered the arm back to his chest. “I’ve had worse. Thank the gods it wasn’t my right arm or I wouldn’t be able to fight.”

“Enton,” Dagan said in a quiet voice, “what is all that stuff around you?”

Heather hadn’t even noticed Enton’s surroundings until Dagan spoke. She had been too interested in Enton’s health.

Enton dropped his gaze and looked around. “I think it’s a crypt of some kind.”

Heather had first assumed that Enton was in a naturally formed fissure or cavern of the rock, but
now that she looked,
she could see that the walls were too perfect and smooth for it to be natural. The room that Enton was in was round, maybe twenty feet in diameter, with small niches cut every foot or so in the rock of the wall. Each niche was piled high with what looked like bones. A raised slab of stone, maybe a foot high, ran all along the base of the wall. The slab was also covered in bones and other unrecognizable things.
The floor was littered with what appeared to be garbage.

Dagan shook his head,
“It’s a barrow.”

“You know what this is?” Heather asked. She, like the others, were looking at Dagan in surprise.

Nodding, Dagan leaned farther out so as to get a better look. “Barrows were once quite common. It’s a mound raised over a grave, or in this case, multiple graves.”  He slid back from the edge a bit, “There’s carving all along the top of the wall and I believe it’s Faerum.”

Heather leaned in, as did Mikela
and Cassandra
, to get a better view. Indeed, there was fancy scrollwork carved out of the stone of the wall.

“Enton, did you take anything?” Dagan asked casually.

“No,” Enton said,
“I was in total darkness, but now, with Mikela’s light, I can see better.” He looked around and pointed to several spots. “Couple of things down here might be worth taking. Looks like some of this stuff might be gold.”

“Don’t touch it!” Dagan said quickly, causing everyone to jump.

Enton yanked his hand away from something glittering in one of the small niches. “Why not?”
h
e
asked, looking
up through
the
opening overhead, a grin spreading across his face. “You don’t believe in curses, do you?”

“Don’t be a fool,” Dagan snapped. “I never seen anything to suggest that curses actually exist.” Enton turned back to the niche and Dagan continued talking. “However, I do believe in magic and this stuff could very well have a magic spell on it in case someone tries to steal it. I suggest you take my word on this.”

Enton glanced back upwards and then turned longingly back to the niches.

“Let it go,” Heather said.

Sighing deeply, Enton turned his back on the niche and looked up through the opening. “How about getting me out of this damn hole then?”

As if summoned by Enton’s gripes, Aaron came running up with a long l
ength of rope. Atock tied the end of the rope into a loop and dropped it in. Atock spent several moments searching the edge of the hole until he found a spot that seemed fairly stable. He leaned over and looked in to see Enton already standing with his foot in the loop. Atock and Aaron then began pulling the rope and Enton was slowly lifted free of the barrow.

“How did you get down there?” Heather demanded, as Mikela checked out Enton’s sore arm.

“Well, I was on watch so I was wandering around. I happen to notice that hill looked like it had been burned and I guessed that maybe lightning had struck it, and I climbed up to take a look.” He grimaced, “The roof was weak and collapsed under my weight.”

“And you didn’t take anything?” Dagan asked just from Heather’s right. “Anything at all?”

Shaking his head, Enton said, “No. I already told you that I couldn’t see anything until you got here and then you told me not to even touch anything.” He look
ed wistfully back at the barrow,
“Pity.”

“He’s fine,” Mikela said, giving up on her examination of his arm. “Probably just a sprain.”

Heather clapped her hands together, making several people jump. “All right then, let’s see to breakfast and then get a move on. We’ve already wasted enough time as it is.”

They headed back to their camp, and Heather found herself walking alongside Enton. “Glad you didn’t get hurt.”

Enton smiled at her, “I just
wish I could have plundered that place.”

Sighing, Heather turned to Enton, “ I thought you might have left us.”

“Left us?” Enton repeated confused. “Why?”

“Well,” Heather began. She paused to look around and make sure the others couldn’t hear. “I was afraid that our conversation last night might have made you,” she trailed off watching him.

He grinned, “You thought I left because you don’t want to kiss me?”

Something about the grin on Enton’s face just infuriated her and Heather took a deep breath to keep from showing it. “Never know, it might have been the best kiss you ever had.”

That just caused Enton’s grin to get bigger, “Might have been
,
but it wasn’t.”

Heather’s eyes widened in
surprise and
a
nger and she increased her pace, leaving
Enton behind. As she walked, she could hear the oaf chuckling.

Chapter
17

After a hurried breakfast, they broke camp and headed north. Heather once again took the lead and she put Enton on rear guard. She wanted him as far from her as possible. She didn’t think the others noticed her acting differently towards Enton, but they were all just glad to have found
Enton
safe and reasonably sound.

They made good time although they did have to head a bit to the east to avoid a bog. The bog was a low lying area that held a bunch of water, sort of like a swamp. They spent the rest of the day skirting the marsh, stopping at lunch around midday.

Heather was still irritated with Enton, but had been thinking about the situation the whole morning.
He was like a little boy that just couldn’t stop himself from pulling the little girls
’
pigtails. As long as she continued to show him that he was getting to her, then he would continue.

Lunch was a horrible mix of boiled colla and dried fruit. Enton dipped some of the colla out and held it out to Heather, “Want some?”

Smiling, Heather nodded. “Yes, thank you.” Reaching out she took gods-awful mixture.

Enton blinked. Her reaction most definitely was not what he had been expecting.

Ignoring the oversized bastard, Heather begin eating the colla. Glancing up she caught Mikela’s eye. Mikela was looking from her to Enton, a look of serious thought on her face. “Uh-oh,” Heather muttered. The last thing she wanted was the group to start gossiping.

They didn’t spend long on lunch, but Heather got them moving quickly. They travelled the rest of the day, stopping just short of nightfall.
This was the first evening that Enton didn’t visit her during her watch. She was pleased and perhaps just a tad disappointed. It galled her to have to admit it though.

Their fourth and fifth days on this side of the river went as smoothly as all the others had. Heather and Enton were acting coolly towards each other, friendly but restrained.

As they got nearer to the mountains, the small hills were becoming large hills. Deep ravines had caused the group to backtrack on several occasions and they had to ford several small rivers.

The trees and bushes were changing as well. The types of vegetation that liked the low-lying areas were long gone.
There were still pines and cedars but they were just the type that liked higher altitudes.

Despite constantly looking for anything that could have explained the lightning and fire that they saw several days ago, they still hadn’t come across an explanation.

They continued northward
on the sixth day
. They continued to make good time and Heather kept up the pace. Later in the afternoon, the sky became more cloudy and the wind began picking up.

Heather froze as she heard someone coming up from behind her. She knelt down behind a thick bush and waited. Since the noise was coming from behind her, she suspected it was one of her fellow Guardians, but it was better safe rather than sorry.

Atock emerged between two small trees. He was moving at a steady rate, not quite running but more of a jog.

At his approach, Heather stood up. Atock
noticed
her at once and steered over to her.

“Everything all right?” Heather asked.

Atock nodded. “Yes
, but it looks like the heav
ens are about to open up on us.” As he spoke, Heather began walking
northwards
again and Atock fell into step beside her. “
We were hoping to find some
shelter for the evening. Something, anything that might keep the rain off of us.”

Heather nodded. Sleeping in the pouring rains was
just plain
miserable.
She opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated. Something didn’t feel right to her. They were walking up a steep slope toward a line of
trees that ran along the ridge and she began searching for whatever it was that had bothered her.

Atock caught her feeling and he tensed up. He immediately began looking aro
und for trouble. “What is it?” h
e asked quietly.

Heather shrugged and looked around again. Something felt wrong. Then it hit her. It was quiet. No birds were to be seen and even the squirrels were gone. “It’s too quiet,” she said after a moment. They were on the outskirts of the mountains, and they had responded by being more careful. She had even refused to allow a campfire last night. In all honesty, she wasn’t expecting any trouble yet. “Wait here,” she said to Atock. He looked ready to argue, but she glared at him and he acquiesced.

Moving quickly, Heather climbed most of the rest of the way, stopping just short of the summit. If there was trouble on the other side of this hill, then the last thing she wanted to do was to rush in.

Bending over
and moving low to the ground
, Heathe
r came up behind several trees. She crawled the last few feet, reaching the summit in between the
two tree
trunks
.

Looking out from the summit, Heather’s stomach did several flip-flops. Between this summit and the next hill was something like a small valley. Trees grew fairly thick along the eastern side and a small pond was directly in the middle. It was an ideal location for a campsite.

Turning, Heather caught Atock’s attention and waved him to join her. While he approached she turned her attention back to the scene below. She wasn’t the first one to think the valley made a good location for camp. Within the last several days, someone else had pitched their camp here. The remains of four or five tents could be seen, but they had been knocked flat. It appeared the campers had been ambushed. The whole area was scorched and bloodied. In a line next to the lake, was a row of pikes. Each pike was impaling a human head.

“Good gods above,” Atock said, surveying the scene. He too had crawled the last several feet and he now lay beside Heather.

“I think maybe we found Dagan’s sorcerers,” she said.

Atock’s eyes widened at that. “Who could do this to a bunch of sorcerers?”

“Well, they don’t have to all be sorcerers. Could be just one and a bunch of his helpers.”

“Should we circle around?” Atock asked. “You know, avoid the area.”

Heather considered for the briefest of moments. “No. Whoever did this is long gone,” she said. “Let’s go down and have a look.”

Atock seemed less than pleased with this idea, but he followed her down
the slope
. There were signs of the fight all around, unfortunately most of those signs were pieces of the combatants.

They picked their way through to the line of pikes. The heads had all belonged to men of differing ages. Some looked barely old enough to shave, while others had hair that had gone stark white. Nothing about the heads suggested where these men had come from.

Moving beyond the row of pikes, they walked through the trashed camp. The tents were little more than a piece of canvas and not identifiable. Pieces of clothing lay scattered across the ground, but it was of common make. Not sure what might be lying under the clothing and other refuse, they began kicking pieces of it over. They had almost given up on identifying these men, when Atock nudged a shirt to the side and noticed a
small book
. Bending down he hesitantly picked it up and began reading. His eyes widened and he handed it over to Heather.

She recognized the book as a prayer book. Opening to the front cover, she
noticed a small inscription. It
read,
Order of the Intercessor.
She glanced at Atock. “Ever hear of this Order before?”

He shook his head,
“No, but I’m guessing they were here for the same reasons we are.
The Church must be searching for the armor.
” He looked around at the devastation. “Any thoughts on who might have done this?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Heather said. She pointed to several spots where the ground was disturbed. “Goblins.”

A noise caused the two of them to spin around and they both dropped their hands to their swords. They immediately relaxed at they recognized the other members of their small group descending the slope. Only Agminion looked squeamish at the sight of the carnage. The rest, including Dagan, looked around in disgust.

“Any of you ever hear of an Order of the Intercessor?” Heather asked when they arrived.

Everyone shook their head, except Dagan. He blinked several times but didn’t answer otherwise.

“Dagan,” Heather said after a moment, “do you know something about this order?”

Dagan started and looked around surprised. “My apologies,” he said, “but I was lost in thought.” He reached out and took the small prayer book from Heather, “I have never heard of this order before and that worries me.” He flipped the book open and began to slowly turn the pages. “To me, that implies that this is a very secretive order of the Church, and secrets like that are very hard to keep.” He closed the book with a snap, “I can only assume that this order is related to Kelcer and these men,” he waved his hands at the heads, “must be searching for the armor.”

“Any idea who killed them?” Agminion asked. He was studiously avoiding looking at the pikes. He still looked a little pale.

He’s seen death before,
Heather thought,
but not like this.

“Goblins,” Atock answered.

“We’ll have to take more care at night,” Aaron said. “We’re in the mountains now and this is their territory.”

“We need to get moving,” Heather said suddenly. As one, the others in the group tensed, but she didn’t notice as she was busy scanning the sky. “Rain’s coming and I don’t want to spend the night here.”
She pulled her eyes from the rain clouds, “Atock, I’m going on ahead to try and find us a place for camp.”

Atock didn’t answer, he only nodded.

They made camp that night behind some thick bushes and up against a steep rocky slope. There was a small overhang that provided a minimum of shelter, although the wind picked up and blew the rain sideways up under the overhang.

As Atock had predicted, the heavens did indeed open up and dump the rain on them. And sleeping in wet blankets was just as miserable as Heather remembered. She was going to forbid a campfire, but the rain made it a moot discussion.

After the carnage they had witnessed today, Heather made a change to the watch rotation.
She insisted that there
be two people posted as guards at the same time. In order to make this a little mo
re bearable, she insisted Dagan, Cassandra, and
Agminion also take a turn standing watch. She had half expected an argument, but there was none forthcoming. Either the sight
of the ambush made them more agreeable, or they were truly beginning to see her as their leader. Personally, she was inclined to believe the former.

The night passed slowly. Between the rain, wind, and the longer watch shifts, their sleep was fitful at best. Heather seemed to wake at every sound and
,
with the wind blowing like it was
,
there were plenty of sounds. At least the pouring rain would keep anyone from following their trail.

The next day dawned a grayish
black. The rain had stopped for the moment, but the sky
seemed to promise
that it was only a brief respite
. They ate a quick and cold breakfast and then moved out. Their order was the same as earlier. Heather led the way, then came the main body of the group, and Enton brought up the rear.

The going was slower now than before. Heather stopped constantly to listen for any sound that shouldn’t be there and she endlessly scanned the forests for signs of movement. If nothing else, stumbling across that old campsite had put them on the alert.

Without a doubt they were in the mountains now. The terrain was getting steeper and more rocky, but there were an abundance of paths and openings that they could follow. The forests were thick on this part of the mountain and she was thankful for that. The trees would help hide them from prying eyes on up the slope.

Several hours after they broke camp, a steady drizzle began to fall.
While the slow falling rain still got them soaked to the bone, it was less annoying that the all out pouring rain of the night before.

Early i
n
the afternoon, Heather called a stop and they had another cold meal. Between the weather and the Gods-awful food, morale was definitely on the downturn. She didn’t give them a long break but got them moving after only a quarter of an hour or so.

They continued trudging through the forests in the drizzle for several more hours. All the while Heather constantly searched for any sign of something out of the ordinary. She saw nothing unusual. That is until she stepped through a ring of trees and realized that something had definitely changed. She stood on a large plateau. The plateau was relatively flat and stretched to the northeast for nearly a mile until it ended abruptly in the steep side of the mountain.