beads on an invisible string. The trees crowded in close, taking turns eclipsing the sun as it rose into the sky. Long shafts of light filtered through the needles, bathing the dusty air in a golden glow. Alodar heard Feston's deep voice and Vendora's laugh in reply. He chafed at his self-imposed exile from her presence but, after his failure with sorcery, thought it best to resolve the mystery of the wizard's tower before approaching her again. He looked back at Aeriel and saw her staring silently into the flame.
After several minutes, Grengor walked into view from up the trail and playfully slapped his relief guard on the back as he passed. 'By the spirits, a solemn lot,' he cried as he approached Alodar and Aeriel. 'Did not your training maids tell you, my lady, of the danger of staring with such intensity into the blaze?'
'Yes, that they did, Grengor,' Aeriel said, shaking her head and looking up to the marine as he approached. 'Many a time they warned me that the fascination of the flame was only the will of some demon in the world beyond. Reaching out and trying to bewitch me, just as the sorcerer does with his eye. And many times as a small girl I tested such old tales, too.'
'You make much too light of it, my lady,' Grengor said. 'Your maids instructed you well. As the romances say, it is not only by the wizard's brazier that the realms are connected; innocent flame of whatever type might serve as the means also.'
'But the sagas say that only the simplest and least powerful can come through of their own will,' Aeriel protested. 'Demons of true power can bridge the gap only by the intercession of a wizard. Unless he deliberately seeks to make the contact and provides the exotic ingredients for the flame, then there can be no transferal.'
'Yes, my lady, it is probably as you say,' Grengor replied as he moved across the campsite. 'But I shun staring at the flame nonetheless.'
Alodar rose stiffly from his sprawled position and tentatively stretched to his tiptoes. 'Pause a few minutes while you can, Grengor,' he said, 'but we should break camp and begin the climb. I hope to be well up the mountainside and perhaps even at the base of the spire before nightfall.'
Grengor grunted as he slumped down for a moment's rest at the edge of the fire. One of the other marines rose and sent the word down the line. One by one, the fires were snuffed out. Soon the valley walls echoed with the sounds of breaking camp and loading the ponies. In half an hour, the long string was ready to march, and they started up the trail.
The early going was easy, up a modest incline with little rock and debris to impede their progress. As the sun began to arch up to its zenith, the slope steepened and the smoothness underfoot gave way to bare rock, tumbled and cracked by the snow melts of spring.
Alodar panted near the lead, his lips pulled into a slight grimace as he tried his weight on his healing leg. With such a large party, the pace was slow enough; but he was tiring rapidly and wished that a good place to halt would soon appear.
'A moment, Alodar,' Aeriel gasped. 'I am beginning to feel the effects of the height. Should we not pause, even if we do not prepare a meal?'
'I petition with the lady,' Grengor said as he struggled to join them. 'I have an itch between my shoulders that has tormented me since we broke camp this morning.'
Alodar smiled at Grengor's efforts to reach a spot high up in the center of his back. 'Hold still for a moment,' he said. 'I will give you aid while Aeriel catches her breath.'
Grengor turned his back, and Alodar briskly began to rake the area with his hand.
'Aieeee!' Grengor shouted and danced away. 'Desist, master. Your scratch turns the itch into pain. I prefer the more gentle touch of the lady.' He knelt down before Aeriel, and she cautiously laid her hand on his back.
'Why, there is something caught underneath your tunic, Grengor,' she exclaimed. 'I can feel the lump of it quite plainly against my palm.'
Alodar stepped forward and ran his hand down the neck of the garment. After a few exploratory jabs, he withdrew a small, round, and barbed object. 'It is an ivoryroot burr,' he said. 'I would not think that such a plant could grow so far north. No wonder you had discomfort this morning. Those spines would drive even the concentrating sorcerer to distraction.'
Grengor rose to his feet, flexed his shoulders and grinned. 'Many a wound have I borne in silence,' he said. 'It seems this ivoryroot is more than a match for a marine.'
He attempted to step forward to take the lead as the rest of the party began to bunch up behind. But with a flailing stagger, he pitched onto the rocky slope, breaking his fall only at the last instant. He turned and struggled to regain his feet as a marine and two barbarians nearby began to bellow with laughter at his plight. Alodar looked down, puzzled at his usually sure-footed sergeant, and saw the reason for his fall.
'Grengor,' he said, 'your bootlaces are tied together!'
Grengor scowled first at Alodar and then at Aeriel. 'Such frivolity does little for discipline on the march. I am surprised that one of you two would act so out of character.'
'But, Grengor,' Aerial protested, 'in no way would I do such to you. Perhaps your laces entangled themselves when you stopped to have the burr removed.'
'Unlikely that a double bucket knot could be made accidentally.' Grengor retied his boots and turned to resume the climb. 'Enough. I know better than to confront your denials. Just do not be surprised if I give your campfire a wider berth in the future.'
Aeriel turned to Alodar and they exchanged questioning glances. Alodar shrugged and resumed the climb. Grengor worked out his heat as he attacked the ever-steepening mountain. Soon the entire party was again strung out in a long, thin line, clambering over the fallen rock and gasping for air.
They traveled for barely a quarter hour more when the monotony of heel on stone was broken by an angry shout back down the line.
'By the shields, I will have no more of this badgering.' The voice carried up to where Alodar circled a large boulder in the way. 'Draw your sword now, knave, and let us settle it.'
Alodar quickly limped back down the line, shouldering marines and nomads aside. He reached the commotion just as blades clanked for the first time. 'To your station,' he commanded the marine. 'Attend to your chieftain,' he shouted at the nomad. The two men stopped and momentarily stepped backwards. 'Enough,' Alodar concluded as he halted between them. 'You both know that the gain of all depends on each of us working together, not against each other. Now what brings on such folly?'
'He drew on me, for what cause I do not know, master,' the marine said. 'I unsheathed my own blade only to defend myself from his attack.'
'Away with your smooth words,' the other shot back, 'Look at my head and shoulders. Do you think that I sweat so much in this dry air to drench me so? Ha, now look at this one's goatskin. Empty with not a drop left for its intended purpose.
Alodar looked back to the marine. His goatskin was flapping empty against his side. 'Perhaps a leak, master,' he mumbled. 'And I swear I did not come near this man until he whirled about and accosted me.'
Alodar eyed the evidence, trying to formulate a reprimand that would deter the rest of his troop from such conduct while not hampering their fighting spirit. As the marine's glance dropped to the ground under Alodar's penetrating stare, a startled cry from the head of the line shot down the mountainside.
'And now it is lady Aeriel,' Alodar growled in irritation. He sighed and began to limp back up the trail. 'I shall attend to your punishment later.'
He passed two nomads, huddled beside the rough path, and saw them pull their garments about them in a sudden gust of wind. A fine mist billowed down the trail. Before Alodar could react, he was surrounded in dimness. He frowned and tried to brush the fog away with his hands as he continued upwards. He felt a tingling on his exposed skin as when he accidentally had spilled one of Saxton's acids. His eyes began to sting, and only with difficulty was he able to force them open.
He heard Aeriel call again, this time quite near. Through squinted eyelids, he could barely see her, a little distance ahead, huddled behind Grengor's bulk. Alodar joined them and Aeriel slipped from behind Grengor to his arms.
'It came up in an instant,' she said. 'From totally clear to this biting fog.'
Alodar squinted out into the swirling mist, searching for an answer. Off to his right, he caught the dance of a feeble light. As he focused his attention, he heard a tiny malicious laugh. Aeriel and Grengor turned in the direction of the noise, and at that instant the breeze stopped.
The obscuring cloud dissolved and the light grew brighter, making small random motions in the air.
