Perhaps halfway between the stones and the edge of the clearing, the dolgrims milled about in confusion. Moans and growls of frustration sputtered out of their double mouths. A few tried to move closer to the stones. They looked almost like they were attempting to walk into a strong wind. Behind them, the Bonetree hunters squatted down on the ground with an unsettling patience.
One of the dolgrims squealed and seemed to point directly at her. Half a dozen of the creatures swung around sharply, raising one or a pair of arms to fire off a new volley of crossbow bolts. Dandra, Singe, and Geth ducked back under cover. Even Tetkashtai seemed to take notice, gibbering out another wail of terror.
'What's holding them back?' asked Singe. 'What is this place-?'
His question was drowned out by another of the rolling bellows, this one so loud that Dandra pressed her hands to her ears. She glimpsed movement as Adolan reached up and pressed his palm against the stone above him. His mouth moved in an invocation and the deafening roar ended. Out in the clearing, a frightened babble broke out among the dolgrims.
'We're safe here for the time being,' said Adolan. 'You can relax. They can't get any closer.'
'Why not?' Singe asked.
Adolan settled back. 'The Bull Hole is sacred to my sect. Our lore holds that our traditions began thousands of years ago as a defense against an invasion from a realm of madness. The leaders of that invasion were powerful creatures called daelkyr. They brought lesser creatures with them from their realm-and created others from the beings they found on Eberron. All of them are anathema to nature. The war that followed took place in the Shadow Marches, spilling over into the lands surrounding the Marches.' He gestured around them. 'Like the Eldeen Reaches. The Daelkyr War ended when the paths to the realm of madness were sealed. My sect, the Gatekeepers, is the oldest of the druid traditions and the one that sealed those paths and bound the greater aberrations left behind on Eberron into the depths of Khyber.' He touched the stone again. 'Ancient druids created the Bull Hole and places like it to warn and guard against such creatures as the dolgrims. Its power keeps them back.'
Dandra watched as Singe stared at the druid, then squeezed his eyes shut, raked fingers through thick blond hair, and finally opened his eyes again. 'That's ludicrous!' he sputtered. 'There weren't even any humans in this part of the world that long ago. Historians have shown that the only cultures here were scattered orc barbarians and the hobgoblin empire of Dhakaan-and it fell almost six millennia ago!'
Adolan raised an eyebrow. 'Historians?'
'Singe studied at Wynarn University,' growled Geth. 'He knows everything.'
Dandra caught the dark glance that Singe shot toward the shifter. Adolan's eyes, however, never wavered from the wizard.
'What do your historians say,' he asked, 'caused the Dhakaani Empire to fall?'
Singe's jaw tensed. 'There's evidence of a war.'
'With who?' Adolan spread his hands. 'Scattered orc barbarians?'
Singe opened his mouth, then closed it again. Geth turned his back on him and looked out into the clearing. 'The Bonetree hunters are all just sitting back but the dolgrims are still milling around. It looks like a few have tried to go around the back of the circle.'
'They won't get in there either,' said Adolan. He glanced back at Singe. 'Well?'
The wizard glowered at him. 'You're telling me this circle was built by hobgoblins?'
'Of course not.' Adolan rose to his feet, careful to stay in the shadow of his stone. 'The first druids were orcs.'
'Ores?' Singe's eyes bulged in disbelief. 'Orcs couldn't create something like this!'
'Not now, maybe,' Adolan agreed. 'But you believe that the hobgoblins who spend most of their time fighting among themselves in Darguun today are the same race that once built an empire spanning half a continent, don't you?'
Singe's mouth closed with a snap. Adolan turned to look at Dandra. 'At the cabin,' he said, 'you were desperate to escape.'
Dandra bit her lip. 'I'm sorry that I turned on you, but I had to-'
Adolan raised his hand, stopping her. 'They're after you, aren't they? You're the reason they've come to Bull Hollow.'
She felt blood rush to her face. With the eyes of all three men on her, she nodded.
'Why?' asked Adolan.
Her belly knotted at the question. Tetkashtai, she thought, what should I tell them? The cowering presence's only response, however, was a thin, mad gibbering. Dandra took a deep breath and looked back at Adolan.
'They were holding me captive,' she said, trying to keep her story as simple as possible. 'They kidnapped me from Zarash'ak and took me to their camp in the marshes. I managed to escape, but they've been pursuing me ever since.' She paused, then added. 'I've been running for almost a month, just trying to stay ahead of them. Until you found me, I didn't even really know where I was.'
A harshness that crept into her voice surprised even her. Adolan's eyebrows twitched in surprise, but Geth actually cursed out loud. 'Rat! Do you expect us to believe that?'
Dandra gave him an angry look. 'Would you want to get caught by them?' She pointed over her shoulder, beyond the stones. 'I can move fast and it's hard to track someone who doesn't leave footprints if she doesn't want to. They needed their herons to follow me.'
'You were walking when we found you.'
'I was exhausted!'
'Easy,' said Adolan, raising a hand to both her and Geth. 'Arguing isn't going to help us.' The druid glanced at Dandra again. 'Why did they take you?'
'Why me? I don't know,' she answered. That much at least was the truth. She directed another mental prod toward Tetkashtai, but the presence whined like a child and batted her away. 'I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, maybe.'
'Maybe they wanted you for a sacrifice to Khyber,' suggested Singe.
Dandra nodded. 'Maybe,' she lied. Her hand shifted to wrap tight around the yellow-green crystal that hung from her neck. She could almost feel Tetkashtai stirring under her fingers.
The sudden patter of another shower of crossbow bolts shattered the tension of the moment and sent all of four of them cringing back under cover. 'Ado, we have to do something!' Geth snarled. 'They'll soon get lucky and hit something other than rocks. We can't stay here.'
Adolan nodded and said, 'You're right. You and Singe keep watch. Dandra, come with me.' He beckoned her to follow as he moved deeper into the circle.
Dandra drew a sharp breath and scuttled after him. Her movement roused Tetkashtai as nothing else had. Yes! she shrieked. Yes, run! Il-Yannah's light, please run!
The presence's fear rattled through her, so strong that Dandra almost stumbled as her legs started to respond to Tetkashtai's demands. She pushed back against her terror. We can't run, Tetkashtai. We'd be abandoning Geth, Singe, and Adolan!
So? Tetkashtai wailed. Better them than us! They can distract the hunters while we escape.
Dandra recoiled from the suggestion. Tetkashtai! I can't do that!
The presence wrenched at her, yellow-green light harsh and bright. When did your opinion start to matter? Run!
No! Dandra thrust the presence away, then sent an image to her, a vision of what had happened while she huddled in fear. The hunters are waiting for us, she said. The dolgrims have crossbows ready-
Tetkashtai stared at the vision-then whirled like an angry cat. You told them! she howled. You told them what happened!
Dandra stumbled again, her shoulder scraping against cold rock. You wouldn't answer me! she protested. I only told them what I had to.
It was too much! Tetkashtai raged. Dandra forced herself back to her feet, staggering through the presence's anger-and flinching as a hand gripped her arm. She looked up sharply.
Adolan held her upright, offering her support. His eyes met hers. They were blue, she noticed. Soft blue, clear and direct, a stark contrast to the green eyes that haunted her thoughts…
'You fight a silent battle, Dandra,' he said.
Tetkashtai froze in the midst of her rant, her fury shrinking to a deadly, hate-filled point. He knows! she
