'We know one thing, at least ' Chert said heavily.
'We do?' his young associate asked in surprise.
'Sure,' the barbarian replied. 'All those ores and losels and gnolls, and spell-casters too, means something certain, Gord. The Second Key must be with that collection of scum, or I'm a Medegian merchant's arse!'
Chapter 24
Night had fallen over the sprawling fastness of the Vesve Forest once again. The company of mixed humanoids pressed on in the darkness. The few humans within their ranks were allowed to march along the beaten path, with only occasional curses coming from them as they stumbled over tree roots and stepped upon one another in the blackness. Arboreal ores swarmed ahead in the treetops to make certain that no enemy lay in wait for the rest of the band. Fully three score had such duty, and woe to the one who lagged. Another twenty were strung out to either side, likewise brachiating as flank protection. In the center of the whole group were Obmi and his henchman Keak, well protected by tough humanoids and their powers, of course.
After the ambush and slaughter of so many of their rear scouts, Obmi had directed that the company of gnolls be placed under the command of a half-breed ore who had some small skill at spells of clerical sort and great ability with assassin's weapons. There was also another renegade elf, albeit not much of a spell-binder, now assisting Keak. Obmi saw to it that these two were in motion, up and down the line, frequently. Any further attack would be met with sharp retaliation. The loss of thirty of these scum didn't bother the dwarf a whit, but he disliked the reaction that Iuz would certainly have upon hearing the news. Obmi had reports from his outlaw woodsmen that there were no more than a half-dozen men involved in the attack upon his party. The fact that one or more of them was obviously a considerable foe was immaterial. Face had been lost by the dwarf, and with it came a lessening of Iuz's stature. Infinitesimal as this misfortune was, retribution would occur. Iuz's anger must fall somewhere…
The outlaw group moved more swiftly now, marching mostly by night and resting during the day. This allowed them to keep a better watch for those who followed and harassed, and it kept the scum too tired to fight amongst themselves at every halt too. Obmi was pleased with the arrangement.
In the twenty-four hours since he had slain the wild boars and then driven off the attacking men, Obmi had covered as many miles. Should there actually be a larger force than the handful the stupid scouts reported as having caused the trouble, then these enemies would have to run to keep up. Moving a mass of troops through this sort of terrain was slow work, and the dwarf cursed the fact that he had but a few hundred under his command. If he had thousands, he would not need to run as if chased by devils, while with only a score or two he could move much more swiftly. It almost seemed as if there was a plot to discomfit him. Had Obmi not understood the nature of the thing he carried to Iuz, he would, in fact, suspect the cambion of trying to be rid of him. At every turn in the path it seemed that another handful of humanoids joined his force, adding little to its real strength and slowing its progress disproportionately as they were fitted into the command in any hodgepodge fashion. Why couldn't he get some powerful spell-binders to augment this rag-tag regiment? With these, and a few ogres or trolls, he'd be able to get through the forest in speed and style!
'Rot your balls, Klabdul!' the dwarf shouted to the half-orc who rode near Keak. 'Move your worthless butt ahead there and see what all that fuss is about — quick!' There was something happening in the trees ahead. Obmi's vision didn't extend that far, but the cries of the ape-ores and the noise told him that all was not well.
The half-orc priest went off immediately. Keak was giggling at the fear he'd seen in the fellow's ugly face. 'Shut up, Keak! Stop that godsdamned cackling instantly!' roared Obmi.
The skinny elf snapped his mouth closed and looked at Obmi. 'Master, as you wish,' he intoned solemnly, then burst into a fresh torrent of high-pitched laughter.
'That's enough, you long-eared turd eater!' Obmi fumed. 'You take your worthless elvish ass and get to the tail end of this gaggle of scum. If there's trouble ahead, it's probably a ruse. Any real attack will hit the rear. Be there and stop it if it comes, understand?'
'As if I'd thought of it myself, Lord Obmi,' Keak called as he turned his horse and urged it along, yelling at hulking gnolls to clear a path for him or be castrated.
The column halted in confusion, and Obmi swore more loudly still. That must be Klabdul screwing around with the advance, the dwarf reckoned. There was no other reason, for the commotion in the trees had ceased, and no sounds of battle came from ahead. It was time to take a direct hand. Obmi got his mount moving, heading for the front of the confused band.
'What's the reason for this halt?' he demanded.
Klabdul materialized from behind a tree, an arboreal ape in tow. He bowed and said, 'Pardon, lord, but I called it, for the losels had come down from the trees and were refusing to return.'
'What? These miserable half-apes wouldn't dare such a thing! You there!' the dwarf said to the cowering creature held fast by the brutish priest-assassin. 'Speak or die! Did you and your fellows do as this priest claims?'
Obmi spoke carefully in orcish, for these arboreal humanoids were more stupid than their cousins, if that was possible. Worse still, as simian as were the ores, these crossbreed ones were even more apelike, and their out- thrust jaws, baboonlike muzzles, and large canine teeth made their halting speech difficult to understand. Leave it to that perverted cambion to develop such a species as these so-called losels!
'Uh… uh… it killed Zhuf!' the ape-ore said, and it tried to grin to see if that would end the matter.
This was going to take a bit of time, Obmi realized. 'What do you mean, 'it'? Tell me, what killed — '
'Zhuf!' the losel supplied.
'Bugger Zhuf!' the dwarf nearly screamed at the stupid creature. 'What was it that killed him?'
'Duh… duh lion dat was in duh trees killed Zhuf, dat's what.'
'Good!'
'Ain't good, Zhuf bein' chewed up like that,' the losel countered, and then cringed when he saw Obmi point his hammer at him.
'Listen, you moronic mongrel,' the dwarf spat without raising his voice. 'Now, you tell me exactly what happened, and do it slowly and quickly. Otherwise, I will split your louse-ridden cranium, feed the small contents to those gnolls there, and ask another of your comrades to give me the information I require. You may begin now.'
The losel couldn't understand half of what the terrible little dwarf said, but he understood the threat in Obmi's tone all too well. 'Uh… wewuzgoin' 'longpretty easy-like. Nuttin'to see, no stuff to hurt us. Zhuf, he was duh furst ah us, so he's da one who sez, 'Lookout chums, dere's a lion!'
'Lions don't climb around in trees,' Obmi interjected. 'Did you actually see the animal?'
'Duh what?'
'The Hon! Go on with your report, you idiot!'
'Ah, sure ting, I seen da lion. It was a blackie, an' didn't have no mane. It was jes' sittin' an' lookin’ at us all. Den Zhuf, he flung his club al da lion and tried to jump back in where we wuz. Dat's when it got a holt a him an' chewed up ol' Zhuf inna big bite!'
'What did the rest of you do?' demanded the dwarf.
'Shit! Waddya 'spect? We pitched our clubs at da friggin' cat real good. Me, I hit 'im right on da schnozzle. Couple ah da boys, dey had dem funny li'l bows ya give 'em. Whang! Whang! Dey lets loose, an' da sticks fly right into da bassard's side like, only dey don't sink in. Jes' like da clubs, da arrahs ain't doin' no hurt to da lion…'
'So?'
'Dat big cat, he looks at us boys like we jus' patted his head. Den he opens his mout, all covered with Zhuf s blood, an' I saw da t'ing grin — scariest thing I ever seen! Den we got down from da trees, quick-like, an' none ah us goin' back 'til that cat's meat on da table!' Obmi struck the losel as hard as he could with the ensorcelled hammer. The blow sufficed to kill the stupid creature instantly, and it never knew what struck it. All the others were watching. He glared at these ape-ores from a visage filled with rage.
'There may or may not be some big cat — a leopard, probably — up there in the trees,' he said threateningly. ' But I am here; even you dimwitted monkeys can see that. I will certainly kill you all if you do not get back into those branches overhead and resume your work! You will move ahead, watch for enemies, and tell me if
