Misery Loves Company

Aedric is joined by Snoe on his mission, but their plans are changed when they learn of a new danger.

45.

Misery Loves Company

 

He was dreaming that both of them were playing like a pair of little children in a huge waterfall - both totally naked and yet unembarrassed - when, just as he was dunking her underwater, he awoke suddenly to the sound of violent sneezing coming from Snoe.

 

It was early dawn and an eerie fog hung over the clearing, adding to the supernatural feeling of the scene.   The Drow girl was snorting and sniffling, as she fought with what obviously was the beginning of a cold.

An idea suddenly came to him and he put his arm around her and gently pulled her close to him, then touched her forehead, “By Yesh’s name, be healed.”

 

Power flowed out of him and Snoe sighed, taking a deep breath through an airway now completely clear.   She nestled sleepily against his shoulder with a content smile.

“Thanks.   My Mom used to do that when I’d get a cold when I was a child.   It’s one of the advantages of having Paladins for parents.   Sorry about the sneezing fit.   It’s a shame too, I really liked that dream.   I love waterfalls.”

Aedric’s eyes popped wide open as she mentioned waterfalls.

“What did you say?”

“Waterfalls.” She mumbled, falling back to sleep against his shoulder, “You know, you were there too.  Go back to sleep for a while.”

She fell into a relaxed sleep, but Aedric was now completely awake and more than a little shaken.  

 

They had shared a dream, and apparently it wasn’t the first time, as he had also experienced her reminiscing dream of the death of her sister and Princess Joila.

 

He had heard of this - it was a symptom of Aleiryid - The mating of souls.   But surely the circumstances both times could allow for just a coincidence.   They had both slept in the dripping rain - wouldn’t a waterfall be a sensible thing for the sleeping mind to envision?

 

Yes, it had to be something like that, he reasoned, looking down at the girl.   She was too young for things like that, he thought as he scrutinized her sleeping face.   Even with limp wet hair after several days spent in the elements, she was fascinating to look at, with her white-as-snow skin and blood red lips.   The more he saw of her, the more he found her far from repulsive, but mysteriously attractive.

 

But he couldn’t even be certain if his attraction to her was genuine interest, or merely because she had shown patient kindness to him in his rather unique situation.   He hadn’t had any thoughts of women, only of vengeance and fuming in bitterness. 

It all was so new to him - his outlook, his religion, and his status as a Paladin- that he felt like someone who had come out of a dark prison into blinding sunlight.   He was unsure of just how he felt or really even why.   So he certainly wasn’t going to trust any new feelings he might feel.  

Instead, he had to focus on his task.   Glancing down at the sleeping albino girl, he found himself very glad that she had followed him.   She was very pleasant company indeed.   After a long-time sitting in the fog watching her sleep, he finally nudged her.

“Snoe, we’d best be getting on the road.”

She sighed and opened her eyes, blinking away sleep for a few seconds, looking at him for a moment.

“You didn’t go back to sleep.”

“No; I was afraid if I did, we might sleep far too long.”

“Oh.” She smiled a secret smile and stretched for a moment, “Has it quit raining?”

“It’s hard to tell.   It might just be the fog, but at least it’s not raining heavily.”

 

***

 

They saddled up their horses, both of which had not had any better of a night then their owners, but they seemed glad to be moving and stretching their limbs.   After the same meal that they had eaten the night before, they were off.  

 

They travelled through the browning corn plants, this time to the north; creating a new path through the large field until finally they emerged, looking out onto the Dwarven road.

 

It was somewhat similar to the King’s Highway in appearance, though of sturdier construction, as the weather here in the foothills of the Carcaicasse Mountains was much harsher and lasted longer than in other parts of Northmarch. 

 

Here, instead of high embankments, a five foot high stone wall ran along on each side of the highway for the entire length, with openings every half mile where wayfarers could enter or exit the road.   The wall was built so that the road could be found in the depths of the snow of the long winters.  

 

As soon as they found an entrance onto the highway, both sensed at once that something wasn’t right.   The wide paved road was littered with horse dung mixed with scattered pieces of debris.   Much of the dung bore the prints of boots.

“A huge force made up of horses and men paused here for a while " not to camp, I’d say, but just to rest.”  Aedric said to Snoe after he had examined the evidence.

“An army?”  The girl questioned, and he didn’t answer, for they both knew that it almost certainly was just that.

 

“Could it be Dwarves marching back to Forge Gate?”  Snoe asked after a few minutes.

“No " the tracks are of horses ahead of the troops.   Dwarf armies only use horses for supply trains and they follow their soldiers.   These horses were ahead of the troops - like any cavalry unit.   The tracks look like human feet to me.”

“Could Redburr have sent his forces by this northern route, to attack Westmark?  If he did, he would have had to detour far around King’s Reach, so he would have had to have sent them forth before everything that happened at the Tournament, and before the Queen died.   Don’t you agree?”   The girl asked him, her tone very frightened.

 

“It would make sense.  I’ll bet he had it all prepared, regardless of Queen Eioldth or not.   Perhaps he had to alter his plans slightly, but it worked out in his favor when she died.   Either they are marching by this route to try to surprise Westmark, or else they are marching against Forgestone, and I doubt they would be that foolish, for the Dwarven city is too much for nearly any army to take, situated as it is, high in the mountains.” 

“My guess would be Westmark… or perhaps even an invasion of the Faesidhe Forest, though they’d have to attack Westmark first.”

 

“Yesh, have mercy!   We’ve got to warn them, Aedric!”   Snoe pleaded.

“Yes, but we have to be careful too.  We know they are heading west by the direction of their tracks.   We also know they went through here before I arrived at the cornfield yesterday, or I would have heard them.   But the tracks seem to me to not be very old so probably a day before that, I would estimate.   They would have marched in the rain when these tracks were made, so I imagine they aren’t that far ahead.   We probably would catch them by this evening.”

Snoe considered this for a moment, “Then they would probably be near Forge Gate when we catch them.   The Gorge Bridge would slow them down; it’s only wide enough for three horses to cross at the same time and I doubt they’d crowd that old wooden thing.   If it gave way they’d drop a thousand feet into the Fallow River.”

“Do you know much about Forge Gate?”

“Thorm told me a lot about it, actually.   He used to be a guard there when he was younger.”

“Tell me what you know about it as we ride.   It may help us somehow.”  Aedric set his horse in motion, and Snoe followed suit with her steed.

 

 

“Well, you probably know that the Fallow River made that huge gorge.   It runs north and south and the gorge canyon extends for about 50 miles south past the road and bridge.   This road we’re on goes across the bridge, but there is a fork that goes up across a smaller bridge into Forge Gate.”

 

“Forge Gate is the Dwarven garrison town near that fork?”  He asked just to be clear.

“Yes, that is why the gorge is named as it is; Forgestone Gorge, though most of it is in Northmarch.   Forge Gate is a small town, more of a large guard station, and it is carved into the side of the mountain just east of the gorge.   The smaller bridge spans the distance to the Dwarven road, then across a branch of the gorge to the north of the road.   Both bridges are wooden.”

“The Dwarves spent hundreds of years smoothing the sides of the gorge walls and the mountain where Forge Gate sits into a sheer wall-like face for defense.   It looks like something carved into the very smooth, sheer side of a steep mountain wall, with the bridge crossing over to it like a drawbridge over a moat.”

 

“Can they raise and lower the bridge?”

“No, it is stationary, just like the gorge bridge.   They built both of them out of wood and they seem very flimsy, Thorm told me, but the Gorge Bridge actually has wooden beams supporting it; set into the mountain walls.   So the Gorge Bridge sits up against the mountain on the north side, but only a rope guard support keeps you from falling on the south end.”

“The Forge Gate Bridge runs north and south and is only supported by a rope and post railing at both sides.  But it is only about 15 feet long and narrow.   The Gorge Bridge is 200 feet in length, but like I said, wide enough for three horses to cross together.”

 

“Do the Dwarves have guards on both bridges?”

“The Forge Gate Bridge -- on the northern side of course- is heavily manned by guards.   There are some stone structures on both sides of the Gorge Bridge that could serve as guardhouses, but Thorm said that these posts are not manned unless there is great danger.”

“So the Forge Gate Bridge is the southern entrance into the Dwarven kingdom?”

“Yes.”

“If both bridges are wooden, they could be destroyed.   Perhaps Redburr is hoping to burn the main Gorge Bridge to keep the Dwarves from coming to Westmark’s aid.   How odd that they would construct something as important as this bridge out of wood instead of stone.”

“Yes, but Thorm said it was deliberate.”

“Why?”

 

“Defense, he said.   The Dwarves could burn the bridges if their kingdom was in danger.   Thorm told me a secret that I wasn’t to tell anyone, but I will tell you.   The reason that the main bridge -the Gorge Bridge-  is built up against the side of the mountain with wooden supports running into drilled holes into the mountain, is because they actually have rooms inside the mountain, running the length of the bridge, and the wooden supports of the bridge go into these rooms.   Thorm said that each of these rooms is filled with very flammable oil that coats the thick wooden supports.”

“They have a device, Thorm told me, that can set afire all the oil in these rooms, which will set the bridge supports on fire as well.   Not only will that mean that the Gorge Bridge will also catch on fire, but that the fire, when it destroys the supports, will cause the bridge to drop into the Fallow River.”

 

“Really?   How long would it have to burn?”

“He only said that it would burn through the beams very quickly.”

“Do you know where this lighting device is located?”

“Not exactly - he just said it was a secret door inside the main gate in Forge Gate that led to these rooms of oil.   So the guards at Forge Gate could drop the bridge in a dire emergency.   I doubt Redburr’s men will know about this though.”

“Hopefully.   I don’t know if they’ll want to burn the main bridge, as that would cut off a retreat path.”

“Yes, if the bridge was out, it would be probably two days of backtracking across country - back to The King’s Highway, where the central bridge crosses the Fallow River, but down there, of course, there is no gorge, just a rapidly flowing river.”

 

“The Fallow River is not fordable between the King’s Highway and the Gorge Bridge, I would imagine.”

“It’s a canyon until at least halfway to the King’s Highway and you know how wide and fast-moving it is at the central bridge, so I think you are probably right.”

 

Aedric scratched his chin, “So if somehow we could get around this army, find that device and take down the main bridge, before the army arrived, but after we had crossed it, of course, then we could warn Westmark and give them a few days to prepare before Redburr’s men arrived.”

 

“Well, I don’t think the Dwarves will appreciate us destroying their bridge.”

“They will when they learn of all that Redburr has in mind for non-humans!”

“But can we get around this army and reach Forge Gate and the gorge before they get there?”

“I don’t know.   It’s a chance I think we need to take.  But we’ll need to move fast, and it will be very dangerous.   Honestly, it might be safer for you to ride south and try to catch up with your parents’ convoy.”

“But you said yesterday that you didn’t think that was a good idea!”

“I don’t, but it would be safer then this crazy plan I have.”

“Well, since I know more about the defenses at Forge Gate, you need me, so that is out of the question.”

“Alright then, but please understand we have a good chance of getting captured or killed.”

“That just makes it that much more exciting.” She said with a fake bravado smile.

Reviews

[Elina]

"...though of studier construction as..." I think you were wanting "sturdier" here, and you'll want to put a comma between "construction" and "as."