Chapter 4. Blackstone Valley IV

“Our current situation as it stands, if I am understanding correctly, is thus,” Levin sat with his hands clasped in front of him, exhaling heavily before continuing. “Phillip and Narissa have been taken by orcs to an unknown place. Our only lead is a dead elf from House Sheersea who we can’t ask anything and a dead dark elf who was chasing her.”

The others affirmed his words as he continued speaking, “we have not a single clue where they were taken except for a shred of cloth bearing the Sheersea insignia that we found close to where the other two were taken. In other words, we’ve got nothing.”

Derwin rose to speak before Levin put his hand out towards him indicating to sit, “if you’re going to apologise again, don’t. We’ll gain nothing right now by panicking about what we’ll do and crying about what has been. We have to decide what we do from here.”

“What’s our next move then, Levin?” Xanya spoke this time, trepidation in her voice. “We need direction.”

Levin nodded and turned to Terhal, “the mountain remains silent still?” Terhal nodded to Levin. He leaned back and exhaled sharply.

Fuck, was all he thought to himself for a moment as he gathered his thoughts.

“What about the goblin war camp?” Derwin offered. “Could it be linked?”

“It’s hard to say at this point, Derwin. It might be, it might not be.” Levin replied.

“Then what about Dulnath Ridge? There’s a small outpost up there we could ask about any going ons in the area. If they’re carrying a couple of people they won’t have gone far.”

Levin looked at Derwin and nodded before saying, “you could be on to something there, it’s a reach but doing anything is better than sitting here and doing nothing.” Levin stood up from his seating and stretched before gathering his belongings. “We need to move, now.”

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Footsteps echoed through the night as Levin, Xanya and Terhal hurried up the mountain path. Their dimmed lanterns lighting only feet in front of them as Derwin scouted ahead, using his natural sense of stealth to keep a low profile.

“I can see the lights ahead, Levin,” Terhal said to the man.

Levin replied, “about time, I need a small rest.”

Around the bend of the cliff lights could be seen faintly flickering, the three approached the corner as Levin took the lead and moved to peek around the corner. A hand came up and covered his mouth as Derwin revealed himself from the shadows with a single digit held up to his lips he gestured to the rest of the group to be silent.

“Orcs, four of them,” Derwin whispered. “They’ve ransacked the post and set fire to it.”

Levin’s face contorted into a pained frustration as he looked down at Derwin, “fuck, any survivors?”

“Three, they’ve been tied together at their hands and feet. Looks like they’re getting ready to take them somewhere,” Derwin responded. “What’s our next move?”

Levin leaned against the stone of the mountain and exhaled. “Chances are they’d be taking them to the same place they took Narissa and Phillp, but…” his words trailed off as he looked back to the others and steeled his gaze. “It’s a bad taste to just leave those prisoners.”

Xanya and Terhal smiled at him in agreement as Derwin looked in the direction of the prisoners.

“Looks like they’re getting ready to move in the next few minutes, I'll look for a signal to engage,” Derwin looked up at Levin as he spoke before seamlessly disappearing into the shadows again. The half-orc all but gone to the world with his black cloak tightened around him.

“Terhal, can you hide against the rock here?” Levin asked his larger companion who happily obliged, their skin nearly perfectly matching the rock in the darkness. “Xanya, can you get their attention?”

She nodded and said, “I have the perfect spell in mind.”

“Good. Get them over here, myself and Terhal will deal with it from there,” Levin said as he stepped back behind the young mage and drew his greatsword, planting its tip in the ground as he waited.

Xanya pulled her tome from her waist holster and began channelling her energies into it. That feeling again of the magic being pulled, she thought as her tome lit with a light blue tone. She grasped control around her spell, struggling momentarily, before stepping forward and nearly whispering “chashon vortunas zhilfa.”

An incorporeal being took form in front of Xanya, flickering slightly as it started filling in to resemble a more solid human being mirroring Xanya’s own appearance. She concentrated on the form in front of her, silently communicating her will with it before it turned and rounded the corner towards the orcs.

Xanya shouted from her safespot, “help! Help! Please! I’m being chased by wolves!” grabbing the orcs attention in an instant, seeing the mimic running towards them. It looked at the orcs and made an exaggerated shocked expression before turning and running back towards the group as Xanya mocked a scream in horror, stepping back behind Levin as she did. The man had his eyes firmly ahead.

The mimic came around the corner towards them before vanishing into a magical shimmer, three of the orcs trailing only seconds behind.

The first one around the corner met eyes with Levin who wordlessly pulled his greatsword from its resting position and closed the distance, slashing in a diagonal arc from the orc’s shoulder to its hip. With a grunt the orc fell to their knees and the life faded from their eyes as Levin stepped back, pointing his sword towards the next combatant.

The second orc wasted no time and leapt towards Levin who caught their weapon on his own, taking a half-second to recognise it as an orcish axe, he parried it to the side before swinging forward and catching them on their side. The orc swung low in response, towards Levin’s right knee and finding nothing as the man pulled his sword back and fell back safely away.

The third orc circled against the cliff face rounding towards Levin who paid it no mind, almost mockingly as he stared directly ahead at his foe in front of him. Anger boiled within the third orc as they made ready to charge towards Levin. The orc started to move before being stopped by a large ashen white and stone-like arm snatching around the orc’s neck, pulling them back into a tight hold.

Terhal wrapped their arm underneath the orc’s chin, grabbing the top of their head with their free hand they pulled back and with a crunch, effortlessly snapped the neck of the third orc.

The second orc looked around with rage building in their eyes as they watched their comrades fall. They stepped back and shouted, “attack!” before breaking from the group and running back towards the now blazing outpost. Levin motioned to Terhal and Xanya to stay before chasing after the orc.

The fourth orc who was taking in the heat of the fire. Hearing the commotion headed towards them. They looked up to see the second orc running back with a man in black leather and a large sword giving chase. The orc reached back behind them for their war horn, putting it to their lips and ready to signal for allies only to be met by the taste of metal entering their mouth.

Derwin had taken advantage of the situation to sneak around and thrust his knife up under the orc's jaw, pulling it out in a single motion before pushing them into the flaming remains of the outpost, muffled screams of pain and anguish filling the air.

The second orc screamed in rage and dashed towards Derwin who threw his knife at them, catching the orc in the arm and doing nothing to stop it. The orc closed the distance between the two and pulled their axe above their head, readying to bring it down on Derwin as Levin dashed forward and reached them. He swung his greatsword up, severing the orc’s hand holding the axe cleanly.

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Derwin shifted to the side, bringing a knife out from his belt and using the orc’s shock to his advantage. He plunged the knife into the side of the orc’s knee, causing them to collapse to the ground in pain.

Levin quickly put his sword to the orc’s back and growled, “answer my questions and you may yet live.” The orc looked back at him and nodded, fear evident in their eyes. “Where were you taking them?” Levin indicated to the three currently roped together survivors.

The orc turned their head and spoke, “guarantee my life.”

“You have my word, Fellspkin.”

“Blackstone Valley.”

“What for?”

“Vordis requires-” the orcs words were cut off as they clutched at their throat, pain apparent across their face. Silent screams erupted from its throat as it looked pleadingly at Derwin, as if begging for help. Fingers on the orcs hands dug in deeper to their throat now drawing blood from their skin as their nails dug deeper.

“What the fuck is happening, Levin!?” Derwin looked up at the larger man, shock on his face.

Levin pulled further away from the orc as it continued writhing in pain, “get away! Now!” The two men stepped back and watched the orc struggle against themself, fingers penetrating deeper into their flesh. “Xanya, Terhal!” Levin called out to the other two as he stepped to the side to see blood dripping down the orc’s throat, the first knuckle of their fingers now hiding under skin.

“What’s hap-” Xanya started speaking then gasped in horror at the sight before her. “What?” Levin shook his head at her, indicating he didn’t know either.

“Can you feel any magic presence, Xanya?” Derwin asked. Xanya looked at him then back at the orc who was now doubled over in agony, gasping shallowly for breath. Her hand went to her tome and reached for the imbued gemstone in it, focusing on it to feel her surroundings for magic.

“Nothing,” she shook her head as she spoke. “It’s… It’s almost as if there’s a complete lack of magic here.” She looked away from the orc now averting her eyes at the horrific sight in front of her.

Levin ushered the others away as the orc now struggled for any breath. He stood over the orc and met their eyes. The pained look it gave him told him everything he needed to know as he placed his sword to their chest and plunged it deep. Their suffering had come to an end.

He pulled his sword and cleaned it before sheathing it. Looking down at the orc’s body he sighed and looked over to the survivors who were huddled together, looking at the four with unabated apprehension.

In front of him stood two older men, roughly fifty years of age with one with greying ginger hair and pale skin. The other had no visible hair but a strong thick brown and greying beard. With them was a young woman around Xanya’s age, olive coloured skin illuminated by fire and messy blonde hair. Levin calmed himself before walking over and pulling a knife, the ginger-haired man stepped in front of the girl and lifted his fists. He yelled at Levin, “bandi’! Bandi’! Ge’ away or I’ll have you!”

“Hands,” the larger man in black leather said, looking down on him. “I’ll cut the ropes. Be still.” The man looked Levin in the eyes then shrugged to himself as if accepting his fate before dropping his hands down to allow Levin to cut through.

“Aye, thank you,” the man spoke in a heavy Jurg accent. “Sorry, we’re jus’ tryin’ to protec’ our dear daugh’er. We mean no foul,” he continued. Levin simply nodded to him in understanding as he cut the ropes free. “They came from nowhere lad, the elves had jus’ passed through mere hours prior and then the orcs came. ‘Was a massacre in the pos’.”

Levin walked over to the young woman who cowered from him as the same man put their hand on her shoulder, “is alrigh’ dear, ‘is over now.” She looked at him before putting shaking hands out, gasping sharply as Levin applied the knife to rope.

“You can call me Sigurd, ‘raveller,” the man to Levin’s left said. “Me par’ner there is Raelath and tha’s our daugh’er Reila. I’d offer ye a Dulnath welcome bu’ as ye can see,” he gestured around him, “our home no longer exis’.” He choked back tears on his final words before dropping his head.

Levin reached out to the man named Raelath who slapped his hand away and growled at him, as if a wild animal. He looked to Sigurd who held Reila tight to him and flipped the knife in his hand, offering the handle.

“He’s been like this since they…” he trailed off as he took the knife. “Our home is gone, ‘raveller. Our home is gone.”

Levin stepped away to let Sigurd cut Sigmund free, the other man attaching himself to Sigmund as if a babe to their mother.

Levin joined the other three as they sat, watching the former outpost of Dulnath Ridge burn. The flames grew higher in the night as the clouds overhead threatened rain. He sat back and rested his eyes for a moment as the sound of the crackling of the fire lightly echoed against the cliffs of Blackstone Mountain.

Footsteps approached the group from behind as Sigurd and Reila approached and joined them in watching the flames. Raelath stood a distance away, transfixed on staring at the corpse of an orc on the ground.

Levin looked over at the two of them and said, “we’re looking for two friends of ours who were taken by orcs earlier today, would you happen to have seen them?” They both shook their heads. “Do you know anything about what’s been going on around here?”

The silence was broken by Reila who said, “they was planning to take us to Blackstone Valley, sir traveller. They said that we was most important for what’s to come.” Levin stirred at this and looked at the woman who continued, “they was saying they nearly had enough for the coming ritual, sir.”

“Ritual?” It was Xanya who spoke up this time, curious now as she stood. “Did they mention anything else about this?”

“No ma’am. They slaughtered most everyone inside the outpost except us, we was survivors to be taken to their ‘Site of Godless Ones’ I overheard them saying.” Reila looked again at Levin who was now standing up, “they said we was healthy enough for the trip and it would take a few days to get to Blackstone Valley.”

Derwin asked, “anything special about Blackstone Valley?”

Sigurd spoke up, “rumours going around abou’ tha’ place as of la’e of people and mons’ers sigh’ed there. Traveller’s comin’ in from the cold speak of an increase in goblins, orcs and dark elves in the area as well, lad.” He rubbed his chin before continuing, “we saw ourselves a Jorsen convoy come through these par’s earlier but they came from the Por’ Asceras to the eas’.” He motioned towards the eastern spire of the mountain.

“Aye, we came upon them on our way here yesterday,” Levin said. “Do you have a map of the area?” He knew it was a long shot of hope, the rubble burning not far from them.

“Nay, lad. We held all our maps in the pos’ bu’ now as you can see…” he didn’t finish his sentence, instead looking solemnly at the burning rubble. He rubbed his eyes and said, “I’d offer ye more help if I could but the mos’ I can do is draw you a rough map if you have quill and parchmen’.”

“That’ll be more than enough, I’m happy to pay coin for it,” Levin looked to Xanya. “Our supply bag, please.”

She wasted no time, incanting a spell to summon the bag from the dimensional space and handing it to Levin who grabbed parchment and quill from it, as well as his personal coin purse. He handed the supplies to the man and watched him set about drawing a rough map of the terrain. The map included details such as possible rocks slips and rough terrain, alternate routes indicated by markers on the mountain. All in all it took the man close to fifteen minutes to finish drawing it up, before he handed it to Levin.

“Lad, I hope this will serve you well. I’ll ask no’ wha’ you and your friends are planning on doing bu’ I wish you all the bes’ in doing it,” he bowed to Levin before addressing everyone. “I thank ye all for saving us from what horrifying end I do not know, safe travels.” He bowed deeply, tears finally loosing as he spoke, the weight of the night crashing down on him.

Levin looked to the others and said, “we’ll rest here for the remainder of the night and move out come morning. I’ll take the first watch.” The rest agreed with him and went about setting up camp. He turned to Sigurd and said, “rest for tonight and travel in the morning when it’ll be safer.”

Sigurd bowed again to the large man before walking over to Raelath and pulling him away from the corpse.

Levin sat down against his bag Xanya had pulled out, watching over everyone as the fire burned. A droplet of water fell and hit his nose, trailing down before dripping off.

The rain came and only one thought crossed Levin’s mind, Vordis.

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Sigurd, Raelath and Reila walked down the mountain path away from Dulnath Ridge, their entire life gone in what felt like the blink of an eye. Sigurd lead Raelath by hand, the man still mute even after sleeping as Reila trailed slightly behind them.

“Father, what do we do now?”

“I know no’, Reila. All I know is we have ‘wo legs to carry us and working hands to feed us, we will be fine from here.”

“And what if I had these?” Reila skipped in front of the man and pulled something from her pocket, holding a fist in front of her father.

He chuckled and looked at the smile on her face, “you’re strong lass, ‘o smile in these times.” He went to hug her as she unfurled her fist and showed him what she held.

“The man in black gave this to me before we left, said it was to pay for the map.”

In her hand she held three Histarian gold coins. Sigurd looked at them and felt his chest catch in his throat, tears coming unbidden to his tired face again as an involuntary smile broke out across his face.

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“You’re fine with that?” Derwin said to Levin as they walked up a steep, rocky trail. “That’s half your pay from this entire job, Levin.”

“Aye, there ain’t no point holding onto that coin if we’re going into a situation where we may not come out, Derwin.”

Terhal laughed upon hearing those words, “Levin, you’re full of surprises. I’ve never heard you talk like that before.”

Levin looked back at his larger friend, “and we’ve never walked into a situation like this before. If what they said was true then that coin would be of no use to me on my dead body, I’d prefer to insure a future for someone that could use it.” He looked firmly ahead and stopped on the path. “Before we go any further I’d like to ask you all.”

“Yes,” Derwin cut him off. “I would follow you into the pits of the thirteen circles, Levin. I think I can speak for all of us in saying, if it means we have even the smallest chance of finding the other two, we would follow you into the depths of the deepest circle of Hel.” He looked to the others as he spoke who nodded in agreement.

Levin dropped his head a little before looking up at Derwin and nodding. He looked to the other two who looked at him with steeled resolve. “Then let’s carry on, to Blackstone Valley.”

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