Lex grunted acknowledgement, looking at the lightening sky.
They entered the dark building.
None of the vampires commented when Fallon picked up a length of dead branch before pulling Ash after him through the entrance.
CHAPTER 27
Marrec smiled when they reached the surface. They had lost track of time during their sojourn in Under- Tharos. When the light of day caressed his face, his spirits lifted a bit. His friends were likewise affected, all except for Ususi. The wizard seemed impassive in the sudden daylight and squinted as if in irritation. Strange woman, thought Marrec.
Gunggari brought his dizheri to his lips and played a quick, celebratory tune, which was difficult with the low, thundering notes the instrument was mostly able to produce, but the Oslander managed to sound a cheery refrain.
Elowen clapped the man on the shoulder when he finished. “What was that tune called?” she asked.
“‘Welcome to the Morning.’ It seemed appropriate.”
Marrec said, “Not morning too far along, by the light.” Elowen nodded.
“Gunggari, do you still have the trail?” inquired Marrec. With the sun above, even through the filtering branches of the Rawlinswood, they might be able to close some ground with their quarry.
The tattooed soldier stowed his instrument, crouched. After a moment, he looked up, said, “It is clearer than ever. This way.”
They traveled then for a time under the boughs of the forest. Where they had ascended to the surface, the forest didn’t seem especially corrupt, for all that it overlay Under-Tharos and was nominally in the control of the Rotting Man. They had found a portion of the forest that had escaped direct contamination with evil or rot. Though the sunlight seemed different there than to the west or south, harsher, it was sunlight all the same. The scents of pine and fir were a welcome break from damp stone. Above, clouds piled high along the skyline as they rushed toward the dryer east.
It eased Marrec’s soul.
Gunggari stopped again. He looked around at an area of forest that didn’t seem too much different than any of the areas they had just passed, at least to Marrec.
Gunggari said, “There was some sort of meeting here. I think I understand now. Two were far in the lead, but four caught up with them, right at this point.”
The Oslander searched the ground and nearby trees more closely. He shook his head, saying, “Something strange happened. One of the pursuers left quickly. There is no further sign of that one. The others were involved in some sort of minor altercation, perhaps just a scuffle. Afterwards, all continued, but in this direction, toward the center of the forest again.”
Marrec had earlier noted that they had been moving away from the center. Strange. He asked, “And Ash?”
Gunggari nodded, “Yes, her prints remain clear, clearer than all the rest, nearly. She was led this way.” He continued to point toward the center of the forest.
“How long, Gunggari?” asked Elowen.
“Sometime before dawn.”
“Then we are a few hours behind, at the very most. Let us make haste.”
As they made to move on, Victoricus tittered. The demon said, “I’ve brought you as far as the Queen Abiding intended. From here, you go alone.”
With its last word uttered, the ice demon cracked, and shattered into small chunks. The pieces began to melt in the sunlight.
Marrec said. “It’s up to us.”
“The demon was useful,” noted Gunggari.
Ususi sniffed. Marrec knew the wizard felt otherwise. He hoped she wasn’t later proven right.
They redoubled their pace through the forest, though Ususi was unable to maintain a speed quicker than a fast walk for too long, but they made good time. Even Ususi finally seemed to lose something of the dolor that had fallen upon the party after their deal with the Queen Abiding.
Around noon, Marrec judged, Gunggari led them to the edge of a clearing. The Oslander held up his hand signaling everyone to stop.
All saw the lone structure. It had an unsavory quality to it, like something one might find in a cemetery.
“Is it the Talontyr’s Close?” whispered Marrec. “I thought it would be larger.”
“No, you’ll know the Close when you see it, if the Rotting Man has truly taken up his seat where the Nentyarch once ruled,” said Elowen. “A great ring of mighty trees surrounds the Close, if the Rotting Man didn’t fell them.”
Gunggari signaled again, with some annoyance. He wanted quiet. Marrec nodded to his friend. Gunggari must have noticed something. The cleric sidled up and raised an eyebrow in question.
The Oslander moved his head close to Marrec’s ear and explained, “The trail goes into that structure. Wait here; I’ll check the borders. If I am unable find an exit track, we may have caught our quarry.”
Marrec nodded. Gunggari went.
The cleric kept his eyes riveted to the structure, waiting. He told Elowen and Ususi about Gunggari’s postulate when they sidled up with questions.
Finally, the tattooed soldier returned from the opposite side of the clearing. He said, “We have them.”
“Lurue is kind,” muttered Marrec. Then, “Gunny, why don’t you slip up to the entrance first; you’re the quietest. Elowen and I will follow once you’re in place. Ususi, stay back here and provide spell support.”
“As if I’d do something different,” sniffed Ususi. She was still mad. That woman could hold a grudge with the best of them, Marrec mused.
Gunggari flitted forward, running low but quietly, his dizheri grasped in one hand, his other out for balance. Marrec stood ready to cast Justlance, but his friend made it to the wall next to the darkened entrance without stirring notice.
Next he and Elowen moved forward. He couldn’t help it; his chain mail clinked a little as he moved, but he hoped that the sound wasn’t loud enough to penetrate the building. Elowen was quieter. Both reached the entrance, spread out on the side wall opposite Gunggari, without anyone inside reacting to their approach.
All seemed quiet within, save for the subtle hum of what Marrec supposed to be forest insects.
Marrec turned his head and saw Ususi’s silhouette still back at the edge of the clearing. He saw the wizard’s head nod. He asked, “Everyone ready?”
Elowen drew her blade. Something unexpected happened then.
When the light of the sun above hit the dulled blade, the wood began to thrum, producing an earthy tone that
Marrec somehow equated to the sound of growing things. The veins on the blade, which had shrunk to near invisibility, began to pulse and swell, as if sucking the light in directly. Tiny flickers of emerald light played up and down the blade, and the intensity of the sunlight seemed stronger, more lush, around both elf and blade. The elfs eyes were wide with astonishment.
Elowen blurted out, “Oh. The Nentyarch’s blade… it wanted the sun. Look, the xylem and phloem…” The elf ceased to speak as she gazed at her scintillating blade.
Marrec tried to shush the elf, but Elowen realized her own lapse, clapping one hand over her mouth. She looked at Marrec, an apology in her eyes, but not without a matching gladness that had been absent earlier. Marrec wasn’t familiar with the strange druidic terms Elowen used, but he hoped that their quarry within hadn’t heard her wax so eloquent.
Marrec communicated his hope to Gunggari across the span of the open entrance with two raised eyebrows. The Oslander knew what the cleric’s questioning stance meant, so he cupped an ear against the building and listened.
