Chapter III: Quiet Streets

Shrouded in mists, the streets of Lendrigol were quiet. No beasts stalked the streets, no Umbralivants loomed overhead. It was as if the whole area was silent, hushed in anticipation.

Selene was the first to break the silence.

"So," she began, "Spooky nothing's here."

"Yeah," Ari said warily, "Normally, nothing would be a good thing, but Selene is right."

They looked around a bit, but could not see or find anything. Nothing but mists and ruins.

"Perhaps they are simply elsewhere?" Hamish suggested.

"No," Argent disagreed, "I think they're waiting. Lendrig's power gives him command over all the beasts of the Abyss. I imagine he likely allowed them to run rampant until now, as there was no need to hold their leash tightly. But now...now he's preparing for war."

"Wait," Selene squeaked, overjoyed as a thought occurred to her, "He's only attacking the Hollow because he knows he doesn't need to let it stick around right? That's only because Argent is here. He needs his blood for a ritual or something, right? If that's the case, we just need to get Argent as far away from here as possible, then he'll have to call off the attack, right?"

While Selene was already patting herself on the back for her own brilliance, the rest of the party seemed doubtful.

Hamish started, "What you say is correct, my friend...but..."

"But consider this..." Jezran added.

"If Argent is so important..." Ari continued.

"Why am I here?" Argent finished.

Selene's head swivelled as they each said their piece. Did they practice that when I wasn't looking?

"Huh?" was all Selene could muster to say.

"It's simple," Argent explained, "Lendrig knows where we are, he knows what we're doing. If he thought we could escape this place, he would not have allowed our escape in the first place."

"Wait, so you..." Selene said, trying to get what they were saying, "You think Lendrig let us go?"

"It's a possibility," Jezran sighed, "He's been leading us in circles this whole time, we can't assume we can outwit him. Or at least, if we do, it would require something he could not predict."

Selene sighed, defeated, "Okay..."

"It was not bad plan," Hamish said, delicately placing his giant hand on her shoulder, "In other case, might even be best plan, but Lendrig control this city. He would know if we try to leave."

"He might even have a trap waiting for us by the time we got there," Jezran added solemnly.

"But don't fret," Ari said, placing her hand on Selene's free shoulder, "That is exactly the kind of thinking we need right now. If you have any other ideas, please let us know."

Hamish nodded enthusiastically.

Selene chuckled, then nodded herself.

"With that out of the way," Argent said, "We should keep moving until we find some shelter for the night. We have no idea if this silence will last all night, so we should take advantage for as long as possible."

Before travelling anywhere, they needed to get their bearings. In order to get their bearings, Ari volunteered to transform again.

"I can see a lot from the sky, I should be able to tell what way we need to go," Ari declared.

"Are you sure you have enough mana?" Argent asked, concerned.

Ari nodded, "It's not hard. I can handle this much."

Quickly, she shifted into her great snowy owl form and took flight. Unlike her attempted flight below, where she was trapped and struggling to fly, here she was free and the full scope of her speed could be seen as she flew on silent wings. A lone white bird amidst a black sky above and grey mists below. A few minutes later, she returned, confused.

"Uh, hm," she said after transforming back.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"Something wrong, friend?" Hamish asked.

"Yeah, uh...where was the Hollow supposed to be?"

"Three days travel east of us, give or take," Jezran said, simply, "I did all I could to keep us on track down there, but it's hard to say what changed after our separation."

Ari nodded, "That's what I thought, then why...then why...." she then pointed Westward, "Is the Hollow that way?"

Jezran eyed her finger and the direction she pointed, then his eyes grew wide, "Wait...we're now...east of the city?"

Ari nodded.

"I—impossible!" Jezran sputtered, grabbing his Orb to check for himself. After a moment he gasped, then whispered, "We are east of the city. How the—?"

"Was this Lendrig's doing?" Selene asked, cutting off the wizard.

"It's most likely the case," Jezran said, scratching his beardless chin, "Hard to keep track of where things are in those tunnels. We could have gone in a circle and not known it."

"Didn't we go in a straight line?" Ari asked.

"That's what we thought," Argent said, "But we know Lendrig can manipulate our senses quite easily. So it's possible he manipulated our movements without our notice..."

"Wait..." Selene said, her heart dropping, "Doesn't that mean his lair, or at least the catacombs we crawled out from, is practically underneath the Hollow?"

Everyone was silent at the realization.

Argent took a breath, his eyes brimming with moonlight, "We need to get there. As soon as possible."

There was no argument.

The party travelled through misty streets unhindered for several hours. Adrenaline from the revelation was enough to keep them going.

Eventually, though, exhaustion caught up with them.

So little opportunity for real rest came during their time beneath the city, that now the party was forced to rest in spite of the race against time. Refuge was found in short order that night in a hovel within a collapsed building.

Silence was all they heard as they set the runes and peacefully went to sleep. Argent once again kept watch at his own insistence.

"I don't need rest as much as everyone else," was all he said.

Ari gave a disapproving huff, but was so quick to collapse she was unable to put up an argument.

Before dawn, while the mists still clung to the streets, they continued their journey.

As the sun began to rise, and the mists lifted above them, high walls could be seen in the distance.

"No mistaking it, that's the Hollow," Jezran muttered.

Hamish frowned, "Suspicions last night were correct, it seems."

"Then we have not a moment to lose," Jezran said, steeling himself, "Come on let's go!"

Before Jezran could take another step, Argent spoke.

"A moment, please."

Everyone stopped and turned to stare, waiting for the warrior to continue.

"I know we are rushed, but this is important, I promise," Argent said, his head bowed, "...I am sorry. I failed you all."

Jezran and Selene shared a look.

"What do you mean?" Jezran asked.

"I—" Argent began, but was cut off as Ari stepped forward.

"We knew there was a possibility that Lendrig had returned," she finished.

Jezran eyed them both, "How?"

"It's..." Ari began, trying to find the right words.

"It's complicated," Argent finished for her, "But we knew from Master Kal that Jezran was planning an expedition and why. From there, we knew it was likely he had returned."

"Wait, if you knew why I was going, why didn't you tell me?" Jezran asked, eyes narrowed.

"Kal said not to tell you," Ari said, nonchalantly, "He would never admit it, but he's quite the sentimental guy. Told us he wanted us to keep you safe, if we could."

"If you knew all that...then why were you caught off guard?" Selene thought aloud.

Argent and Ari both frowned.

"We...thought it was similar to another type of magic," Ari explained, "But it turned out the magic was very, very different."

"In what way?" Jezran asked.

"It's..." Ari began.

"Complicated?" Selene finished.

Ari and Argent both nodded.

"So are we completely defenseless against his power?" Jezran asked.

Before the two elves could answer, Hamish stepped in, "No. We are not."

Now it was Ari and Argent's turn to be confused.

Argent recovered quickly, a smirk suddenly touching his lips, "You can share your immunity?"

Hamish shook his head, "No, but I can help with the resisting. Spirit flows through all, I can channel flow to strengthen resolve and will. Good for morale as well."

"That could have been helpful," Jezran said, "Why didn't you offer this earlier?"

"Simple. Channelling is...difficult. Cannot fight and channel at same time. Also needs lots of Arbettin Cedar. Everyone under protection needs it in order to work," Hamish explained, turning to Argent, "If we make large bonfire in Hollow, I can channel through everyone."

Ari smiled, genuinely relieved, "That should be enough to give us a fighting chance!"

Argent nodded, "Yes, thank you my friend. That's one less thing we have to worry about. Now with all that out of the way, let's keep moving. We can talk more strategy with the Governor once we arrive at the Hollow."