I wound my way around the hill and toward the stone steps that led down into our quarry. Mamba nearly ran into me as I stepped off the last step.
“Whoa!”
“Sorry, Master Arden,” she said. “Look.” She held out her hands, continuing to gyrate her hips the whole time. There was a small flake of something golden in one palm, and a tiny clear crystal in the other.
“What is it?” I asked.
“This isn’t just a quarry,” she said. “Cindra found a vein of iron which we couldn’t pull from the earth, and a gold deposit. That’s a gold flake! I could make earrings with this, large hoops that dance in time with my hips.”
“Yes, and that gem?” I asked.
“Oh, right,” she said. “An energem. There are larger ones in there too, but we couldn’t break them free.”
“That’s amazing,” I said, “but we can’t focus on that now. We need to get to the towers. Duul’s forces are coming.”
She stopped her dance. Cindra emerged from the shadowy tunnels with two gi-ants under her control, each carrying a stone block.
“Leave those,” I said. “We need to go.”
Cindra, two gi-ants, twelve snakes, and I all trekked back to the towers. The sun was starting to set when we found Vix, banging away at the stones that formed the top story.
She needs to hurry, Nola said.
Twelve hours is a fair time for a tower, I said. I trust her, let’s let her work.
Cindra gathered her bow and arrows and climbed to the top of the one completed tower. Mamba danced idly at the base of the second one, waiting for Vix to finish. She made a game out of stepping on the small holes in the rocky ground that let the light into the meditation room below.
I took Razortooth and stood outside the temple’s front door. This is where Vix and I would defend the temple against any creatures that made it past the towers. The enormity of the war coming our way pumped adrenaline through my veins. I didn’t want to think about it, for fear that I would crumble before it even started. We were four people that had only just met. What match were we for the god of war?
My only hope was that his forces were weak after battling constantly. After all, it wasn’t Duul himself that came, it was some lesser demon under his control. It had to run out of energy at some point, right?
After the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, Vix climbed from the tower and gave Mamba the go-ahead. Mamba raced to the tower’s roof while Vix fetched her hammer, shut the stone door to the temple behind her, and sat down by my feet.
“I’m tired, Arden,” she said. “I wish I had time for a quick nap in the recovery beds.”
“I know,” I said. I was tired too. Chopping and hauling wood was backbreaking work. We needed to stay vigilant though. We’d fight with whatever energy we had.
Waiting was nerve-wracking, but eventually we heard the heavy footfalls of an army on the march. Metal clanged from the weapons they carried and trees screeched against the hard-bodied creatures that cut a path through the forest, on their way to a target they’d hope to destroy, enslave, or both.
My leg started shaking. I wanted to stay strong and firm, for the others if not for myself. I didn’t want to become a mindless rage machine like Duul had turned Cahn into, or the other men of Meadowdale. I didn’t want to hurt anyone.
The sound of marching got louder. Still, we waited. Cindra and Mamba would do what they could, then Vix and I would fight hand-to-hand until we couldn’t fight anymore.
Was I wrong to rope them into this? The promise of training their skills wasn’t worth their lives. I wanted to protect Nola, but I wanted to protect them too. I wasn’t sure how to do both.
The oncoming army reached its loudest volume. Then the sound began to taper. As though they didn’t know where they were going.
We’re not their target!, Nola said.
Then who is?, I asked.
Oh, she said. I was so relieved that they were leaving, it didn’t occur to me how dire things would get for Gowes. They’re heading toward Valleyvale.
“Stand down!” I yelled. “They’re going to Valleyvale.”
Mamba and Cindra climbed down from their towers, visibly relieved.
“What do we do?” Vix asked. “Let them destroy the only city within a day’s walk? Let them accumulate extra fighters and seal the city’s women inside?”
“We’re four people,” I said. “I don’t want to put you in harm’s way if we can avoid it.”
“I’m in harm’s way, no matter where I go,” Cindra said. “I was wrong to think I could strut into the elf lands and find Mercifer. I’ve seen what we’re up against now. It wouldn’t be fair to you, or to Nola, for me to abandon you after you saved me and provided me a home. I want to stay. I want to protect the temple.”
“I’ll stay too,” Vix said. “Where I came from, I was just another builder. It was my job, but that was all. Here I feel like it’s a purpose. These buildings matter. It’s the gods that saved our races from the first God War, and if protecting Nola can help save us all from the second one, count me in.”
I looked at Mamba next.
“I was never planning to leave,” she said. “My snakes are your snakes.”
“Then it’s settled,” I said. “We’re a team. And if we want our efforts to matter, we can’t just sit here and wait for war. We have to meet it head on. I’m going to Valleyvale.”
“Nola will be vulnerable if we all go,” Vix said. “As much as I’d like to Wallop a few baddies with my new hammer, I should stay here and keep building so that we’re prepared when Duul comes.”
“You’re right,” I said. “You should all stay. Gather resources and build our defenses. I’ll travel lighter as one person anyway.”
“You be careful, Arden,” Cindra said. “I need you to come back in one piece.” She took my hand and pressed a handful of small rocks into my palm. They was the energems we had found, and the one tiny energem she and Mamba had collected from our new mine.
“You all be careful too,” I said. “I’ll be back soon, good as new.”
+19
I tracked the sounds of Duul’s foot soldiers through the woods, careful to stay far enough away that they wouldn’t see me. I assumed they wouldn’t hear me over the sound of their own marching, and I was right. En route to Valleyvale, I had an advantage they didn’t: I was just one person.
With Razortooth in hand, and with my new leather gear equipped, I slipped through the trees ahead of the dark army. By the time I got to the front gates of the city it was hours later and the forest was dark, but the oncoming troops were far enough behind that I couldn’t hear them approaching.
“What business do you have in Valleyvale?” asked a man through the small viewing door built into the city’s front gate.
“I need to see the Mayor,” I said. “I’m the head priest of Nola’s temple.”
“I remember you,” the man said. “You’ve been banished. Go away.”
“There’s an army marching toward your city,” I said, “and if you don’t let me in to warn the Mayor, you’ll all die.”
“You’re marching on Valleyvale? You’re a fool!”
“Not me, Duul.”
The viewing door slammed shut. A moment later, the front gate creaked open. Three archers, still perched atop their guard tower, aimed their crossbows at me while I stepped inside the city. One false move and they might shoot, my head priest status be damned.
“You wait here,” the man said. Then he scurried deeper into the city.