Lady Ruin

“Don’t listen to her! She’ll just kill us when we tell her what she wants!”

“If you don’t answer, you will definitely die,” she said, making sure to keep her tone icy cold. “Answering me is the only chance for survival you have. And the longer you take to start talking, the slimmer that chance gets.”

The lips of both mouths moved silently then, and Lirra had the impression that an internal debate was taking place within the dolgrim’s mind. She’d recently come to learn what that was like, and she waited for the two minds inside the creature to reach a decision.

“Two miles northwest is a clearing with a rocky hill in the center. At the base is an entrance to a series of caves. Elidyr is inside.”

Lirra started to give the dolgrim her thanks, but before she could speak, the tentacle whip pulled back its barb to strike.

“No!”

Lirra reached out with her right hand and grabbed hold of the tentacle whip before it could sink its barb into the dolgrim’s eye.

“I gave him my word that he could go free if he cooperated!”

So he can run and tell Elidyr that we’re coming? the thought-voice asked.

Lirra hated to admit it, but the whip had a point. Can you give him a low dose of poison? Enough to render him unconscious but leave him alive?

The symbiont seemed to consider for a moment, and then Lirra felt its reluctant agreement.

She spoke aloud to the dolgrim.

“I’m going to put you to sleep for a time.” She took in the surrounding area, noting all the dead, both dolgrims and soldiers. The bodies of those dolgrims who Elidyr had transformed were starting to liquefy, just as the creature formed from the combined white-eyes had back in Geirrid. The bodies of the normal dolgrims, however, remained intact. “I’ll move you to a safer location so that any predators drawn to this place will not find you. With any luck, you’ll awaken safe and sound.”

The dolgrim’s lower mouth said, “See? I told you she was going to kill us!”

Don’t betray me on this, Lirra thought to the tentacle whip, or I’ll start keeping you on an even tighter leash! And don’t sting him in the eye!

The whip did as she ordered, injecting its poison into one of the dolgrim’s spindly arms. The creature stiffened, then his eyes closed and he fell limp. Lirra placed her fingers on one of the dolgrim’s wrists, and she felt a pulse. A strange pulse, actually, since it seemed to have dual beats. Then she remembered: two hearts. She released the dolgrim’s wrist and stood.

Ranja, in human form once more, came over to stand beside her, and Osten hurried to join them. The shifter looked down at the unconscious dolgrim.

“Nicely handled,” Ranja said. “You know, I think you’d do well in my profession.”

Osten frowned. “What does questioning a dolgrim have to do with being a scout?”

Lirra fought to keep a smile from her face as Ranja sidled up next to the young warrior.

“If you’re truly interested, perhaps the two of us can have a private conversation about it later,” she suggested.

Osten’s frown deepened into a scowl and he stepped away from the shifter. Ranja seemed amused, but she didn’t tease Osten any further.

Vaddon and Ksana came over then, the two warforged following after. All of them were splattered with foul- smelling dolgrim blood-Longstrider and Shatterfist, especially-but none appeared to be seriously wounded.

“Did you learn anything useful?” Vaddon asked, and Lirra told him what the dolgrim had said. She also told him of her mounting suspicions about the creatures Elidyr reshaped for his own purposes.

“It’s as if his power to rework flesh has its limits,” she said. “I wonder if his creatures would decay on their own, given enough time.”

“Let us hope that’s the case,” Vaddon said. “If the distorted monsters my brother can now create have a limited lifespan, that’s a huge advantage in our favor. But enough talk. We need to get moving. Our horses are gone, so we’ll have to proceed the rest of the way on foot.”

“We can’t leave yet!” Ksana protested. “I need to tend to our injured first, and we can’t leave the dead unburied. Not only would it be dishonorable and an affront to the gods, our dead deserve better than for us to leave them for the scavengers to feast upon!”

“Honestly,” Ranja said, “as bad as the dolgrims smell, I doubt even the hungriest of scavengers would come near this place.”

Lirra gave the shifter a look that said, you aren’t helping. Then she turned to the cleric. “I would never make light of your beliefs, Ksana. You know that. And I would never wish to dishonor fallen comrades, whether I served with them for years or, in the case of our new garrison recruits, only a short time. But even as we speak, Elidyr is working to repair the Overmantle. For all we know, he may have already finished. We have to reach him before he can activate it again and reopen the portal to Xoriat. And that means we can’t afford to waste any more time.”

Ksana’s normally placid face clouded over with anger, and she gestured sharply toward a mass of dead soldiers. “You consider them a waste of time? Has your spirit become so poisoned by the corruption you carry with you that you’ve lost all common decency?”

Ksana’s words stung, but Lirra did her best not to let her feelings show. She started to answer, but Vaddon put a hand on her shoulder-it was the first time he’d touched her since she’d joined with the tentacle whip-to gently silence her.

“Lirra’s right,” he said, “and you know it. Sometimes hard choices have to be made on the field of battle. This isn’t the first time we’ve faced them. We’ll leave the dead for now, and if possible, we shall return to give them a proper burial. As for the wounded, quickly tend to those who cannot travel. The rest you can heal as we march.”

Ksana looked as if she might argue, but then she let out a sigh, nodded, and left to inspect the wounded. Vaddon raised his voice so that the rest of the surviving members of the Outguard could hear him.

“We march in five minutes, people! Make ready!”

Vaddon then turned back to Lirra. “Good enough?” he asked.

“I suppose it’ll have to be.”

He nodded then walked off to make sure his soldiers followed his orders. She turned to the two warforged and gestured to the dolgrim she’d questioned.

“Longstrider, carry him a safe distance away from this place and tuck him into a tree. Not too high, mind you. Shatterfist, you stay here and stand guard while we regroup and prepare to move out.”

Longstrider nodded, scooped up the dolgrim as if he weighed nothing, and strode off into the forest. Shatterfirst looked around at the carnage that surrounded them.

“As I understand it, humans sometimes use humor to lighten the mood after a tragic event has occurred. Perhaps I could-”

Lirra, Ranja, and Osten turned to the construct and shouted in unison.

“No!”

The warforged crossed his stone and metal arms over his chest. “Fine,” he huffed. “Look, this is me, standing guard.”

A few moments later Longstrider returned, and the Outguard was ready to march. From a group of around sixty soldiers, they were down to just over twenty. A hard loss, especially after only a single encounter with Elidyr’s forces. Lirra wondered what else her uncle had in store for them. She supposed they would soon find out.

Vaddon gave the command, and the Outguard started marching.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

They found the cave entrance precisely where the dolgrim said they would. The hill was barren, rocky, and rather lopsided, as if somewhere in the distant past a mountain had tried to thrust its way up