She rode ahead a short distance and uncased her bow, resting it across her saddlebow beneath her hand.
Fortunately, they ran into no dragons for the rest of the day. The ride was surprisingly easy. The forest had little underbrush, and the terrain was not very rugged. Araevin could feel the second telkiira drawing closer with each step, but as darkness fell, they had found nothing. Araevin reluctantly called a halt, and they passed a nervous night camping in a small thicket near a stream, doubling up on their watches and using magic to conceal their camp and horses.
The following morning greeted them with patches of weak sunshine breaking through the overcast. They broke camp and continued eastward, climbing slowly into steeper hills as they went. But they only rode for an hour before Araevin suddenly reined in, his eyes narrowed.
'We're here,' he called to the others.
Ahead of him, hidden below the trees, stood the small tower he'd seen in the vision granted by the telkiira, hoary with age and covered in creeping vines. Looking east into the patchy early morning sunlight, the forest shadow seemed black and impenetrable around the old building. Empty windows gaped blankly at the woods, and large portions of the rooftop had fallen inward.
Grayth rode up beside him and asked, 'This is the place? Strange, it isn't elven. That's a human-built tower.'
Araevin dismounted, taking his horse's reins in one hand. Grayth was right. The stonework was clearly not elven, and the tower had not been abandoned for all that long. Some of the wooden shakes of its pointed rooftop, and the roof of the adjoining house, still clung to the rafters.
Fifty years? he guessed. Perhaps a hundred? Why was an elven telkiira in such a place?
'It's not a watchtower, and I don't think it's a temple or shrine,' Grayth said. He dismounted, too. 'It has the look of a wizard's tower to me. Someone wanted a strong, safe house someplace out of the way, a place where he wouldn't be troubled by unwanted visitors. I wonder if the dragons got him?'
'We'll find out soon enough,' Araevin said. 'Let's find a safe place for the horses, and we'll have a look inside.'
CHAPTER 9
14 Ches, the Year of Lightning Storms
They found a small thicket a spearcast from the tower, and led the horses inside the bramble patch. Araevin wove an illusory shelter to conceal the horses as best he could, just in case a dragon happened by.
'All right,' he said. 'I suppose it's as good as we can do here.'
'I don't like the idea of leaving the horses here alone,' Grayth said. 'If something hungry comes along, they'd be in a hard spot. Should we post a watch out here?'
'Who?' countered Maresa. 'If something hungry comes along, our sentry would be in a hard spot, too.'
'I think I agree with Grayth,' Araevin replied as he studied the sun-dappled forest. It seemed difficult to believe that it might prove dangerous, but there was a sense of menace in the air that he didn't like. It was nothing he could put his finger on, just a single note of warning in his heart that told him to be careful, to be thorough. 'I'm not worried about the horses so much as the forest. I don't like the idea of being inside that tower with no idea of what might be skulking around out here.'
'I'll stand guard,' Brant offered. 'I can keep an eye on the horses and the tower door at the same time. If you need me inside, you can simply shout.'
'Are you sure you don't mind?' Ilsevele asked.
'Well, I'd rather go in with the rest of you, but someone needs to do it.' The young swordsman shrugged and looked around. 'That looks like a good spot.'
He trudged over to the enormous wreck of a fallen redwood, and settled himself against the moss-covered log. They left him there, and advanced on the ruin. Before they entered, Araevin cast a spell to sniff out any traces of magic in the old tower or its surroundings, while Grayth murmured a prayer to Lathander and searched for signs of evil. The others waited as the elf mage and the human cleric studied the ruins together.
'I sense no evil,' Grayth said finally. 'But if there are hidden chambers inside or below the ground, I wouldn't sense them from here.'
'There is old magic here,' Araevin said. 'Old protective wards. Some have likely failed, but others may still remain functional. We will have to be careful.'
'Can you dispel them?' Maresa asked.
'Possibly, but I hesitate to use such a spell until I know we need it. If I have to study my spellbooks again it would take hours.' Araevin allowed his divination spell to fade. He checked his bandolier of components, and made sure his wands were holstered at his hip. Finally he loosened Moonrill in its sheath on his left hip. 'All right. Let me cast some protective spells on the rest of you, in case we run into trouble.'
He produced a pinch of granite dust and powdered diamond, and sprinkled it over Grayth, Maresa, and Ilsevele in turn. Murmuring the words of a potent defensive spell, he armored their flesh against physical blows. Then he cast a spell that provided all of them with the ability to see in the darkness. After that, Grayth blessed each of them with prayers sacred to Lathander, to protect them all against acid in case they encountered the horrible corrosive breath of a green dragon. With their spells in place, the small band advanced to the empty doorway in the stone house adjoining the tower, and one by one slipped inside.
The house itself was large, and likely had been quite comfortable and strong in its day. The wooden flooring was weak and rotten. Grayth, with his human weight and heavy armor, had to move with care, but the elves and the genasi were light enough to stand on it without worry. Large holes gaped in the roof overhead, and moldy heaps of fallen beams and broken shakes lay beneath each collapse. Rotten old chairs still stood around a sturdy table in the center of the first room, in front of an empty stone fireplace. The whole place was somewhat dank and musty.
'There can't be any magic that's too deadly in here,' Maresa laughed. 'There's a bird's nest in the rafters. Come on, let's see what's in the tower proper.'
'Do you still sense the other stone?' Ilsevele asked Araevin.
'Yes,' he answered, 'but it is so close I cannot tell exactly where it is. All I know for certain is that it is here somewhere.'
Araevin and the others followed Maresa through the empty rooms of the old house, looking in on old kitchens and disused bedchambers before they found the doorway leading into the base of the round tower at the house's far end.
Maresa studied it, and started to lean in to look around in the next chamber. A brilliant blue sigil glowed brightly above the doorway, and a sheet of coruscating azure lightning crackled across the doorway. Maresa yelped and hurled herself forward, rolling through the archway as the magical electricity snapped and popped around her. Smoke and sparks showered from the rotten wood of the lintel, and the stink of burning stone filled the air. 'Maresa!' Ilsevele cried.
She started forward, but Araevin caught her arm.
'Wait!' he warned. 'The sigil is not discharged.'
Araevin hurriedly worked a counterspell, striking the glowing blue symbol from its place above the door. The hissing sheet of lightning guttered once and failed, leaving bright spots dancing in their eyes and acrid smoke drifting in the air. The instant the curtain of sparks collapsed, Ilsevele darted into the tower room, an arrow nocked on her bow. Araevin and Grayth started to follow, but a massive iron fist smashed into the doorway in front of them, crushing stone and blocking the way. The hulking arm drew back, replaced by a blank-eyed visage of the same black metal. The thing turned away from them and moved ponderously in pursuit of Maresa and Ilsevele.
'Damnation! That's an iron golem!' Grayth snarled. He glanced at Araevin. 'Do you have any spells that can hurt it?'
Araevin quickly reviewed the spells he had stored in his mind, trying to imagine what might damage a
