The Cleric Quintet: In Sylvan Shadows

Chapter Nineteen

 
Through the Lines Dangerously
When you pass the birch tangle, get down to the left, came Druzil's telepathic instructions. The soldiers have been instructed not to harm you.
Kierkan Rufo looked all around anxiously, fearing that the cold sweat on his forehead would give him away. The others seemed unconcerned with him. They were all nervous, even Ivan, crouching and crawling along with the undeniable knowledge that monsters were all about them. They heard the cries of battle somewhere behind them and to the north, and they knew that Shayleigh and Tintagel were hard at work, keeping the pressure off their secretive band.
Rufo pondered the reference to the birch tangle. Elbereth had mentioned the place just a short while before, saying that they would get beyond it in less than an hour. Rufo was running out of time.
*****
Danica crawled along, her crystal-bladed daggers tight in her hands. She saw Elbereth to the side, similarly crawling, making for a goblin guard twenty feet from the two Danica had chosen as her targets.
It had to be done swiftly and quietly; they could smell the goblins in the woods all about them and wanted to avoid battle if at all possible. These unfortunate three were in their path, though, and the companions had no time to go around them. Skirmishes were becoming too common about the group, echoing from both sides and behind. Shayleigh, Tintagel, and the other elves soon would be hard-pressed as the enemy closed in on this section of the forest, and Elbereth's party had to get to Syldritch Trea without delay to the misfortune of these three goblin guards.
Danica looked over to Elbereth, now in position just a few feet behind his goblin. The elf nodded for her to go first, and Danica agreed, since her task would be more difficult.
She clutched her daggers, feeling the golden tiger sculpture in one hand and the silver dragon in the other. Crouching low, she crossed her wrists in front of her at waist level, with the dagger blades pointing up and out.
The goblins, backs to her, were only two strides away, talking easily, suspecting nothing.
Danica leaped between them. They managed to gasp just once before the monk, in a single movement, snapped her arms out wide, driving the daggers up under their chins. The goblins twitched; one got its hand weakly up to grab Danica's wrist.
A cry to the side turned Danica about. Elbereth's goblin stood facing her, its weapon dropped and its arms held out wide. The creature jerked violently, its face contorted in confusion.
Danica understood when Elbereth's sword came bursting out the front of the doomed creature's chest.
Then only Danica and Elbereth stood. They nodded to each other and dropped back into the brush, holding their positions for a few moments to ensure that no other monsters were about. Together they rejoined the others and explained that the way was now clear.
"We should make the birch tangle without further delay," Elbereth explained softly. "Syldritch Trea is less than a mile to the west of that." Elbereth paused, and a curious expression crossed his face as he regarded Kierkan Rufo, who stood trembling, with sweat rolling down his face.
"What is it? "the elf asked.
"If ye've not the belly for it . . ." Ivan began, but Danica hushed him quickly.
"I cannot get him out of my thoughts," Rufo admitted frantically. The angular man looked all around, his beady, dark eyes darting desperately, as though he expected all the monsters of the Realms to descend upon him.
"He knows of our plans," Rufo explained, trying vainly to keep calm. He stuttered through a few jumbled words, then his control blew away. "He knows!" Rufo cried, and his volume sent the others into defensive crouches, looking all around. "I have doomed you all!"
"Quiet him!" Elbereth whispered, and he slipped out a few steps to ensure that no enemies were nearby.
Danica and Cadderly took Rufo's arms and eased him to a sitting position.
"Who knows?" Cadderly prompted, eyeing Danica, whose scowl gave Cadderly the distinct feeling that she would soon break Rufo's head open.
"It is not my fault," Rufo declared. "I have tried to resist him the imp! with all my strength."
"Uh-oh," Pikel muttered, echoing all their thoughts.
"You have tried to resist the imp, but you cannot," Cadderly prompted. "In what way? You must tell me."
"In my head!" Rufo replied, taking care now to keep his voice to a whisper. "The imp follows my thoughts, learns things from me, though I do not tell them to him."
Cadderly looked to Danica, his face twisted in confusion.
"I have never heard of such a thing," he said. "Dorigen's imp is telepathic. That much I learned." He turned back on Rufo. "But to invade your thoughts, and remain there, without your consent?"
"If you are lying . . ." Danica threatened, wagging a fist in Rufo's direction.
"Unless," Cadderly mumbled, scratching his smooth chin and thinking of any old stories that might give him an idea of what was going on. When he looked back to the others, he saw that all of them stared at him, waiting.
"Have you ever seen the imp?" Cadderly asked Rufo.
"Once," the angular man admitted, thinking that he would keep his second meeting, the one with Dorigen, secret at all costs.
"And did the imp give you something to carry?" Cadderly asked. "A personal item, perhaps? Or did he touch you, or handle any of your possessions?" He looked to Ivan and Pikel and nodded.
"What?" was all Rufo could stammer before the dwarves grabbed his ankles and laid him out on the ground. They then began systematically stripping the man, holding up each possession for Cadderly to see, and when he shook his head, the item went flying.
Pikel was about to rip Rufo's tunic open when the dwarf spotted something. "Oo oi!" Pikel squealed, realizing that his find might be important.
"What ye got there?" Ivan asked, and when his eyes widened also, Cadderly and Danica moved over for a look.
"Where did you get that amulet?" Cadderly asked. He figured that their search was at its end, for this amulet, edged in gold and centered with a fabulous emerald, was far beyond Rufo's meager means.
"What amulet?" the angular man replied, perplexed.
"This one," Cadderly explained. He unpinned the thing and held it up for Rufo to see.
Even Danica did not doubt Rufo's sincerely confused expression. Without a thought, Cadderly handed the amulet to Ivan, and the dwarf, with a wink to his brother, produced a frog from his pocket and pinned the amulet to a loose fold in the creature's skin.
"That'll keep the imp-thing guessing," the dwarf explained. " 'Course now I'll be needing to catch me a new supper!"
"This allowed the imp to invade your thoughts," Cadderly explained above the quiet chuckles of Danica and the two dwarves. The young scholar was certain of his guess and continued with some confidence. "Without it, you are free unless you choose to let him back in."
"And you would not do that, would you?" Danica asked, suddenly grim. She grabbed Rufo by the shoulder and roughly spun him about to stare into her glowering face.
Rufo pulled free and tried to regain some measure of his dignity. "I have admitted my weakness," he said. "Surely I cannot be blamed . . ."
"No one is blaming you," Cadderly answered, speaking more to Danica than Rufo. "Now, you said you have betrayed us. What do you know?"
"The tangle of birch," Rufo said tentatively. "I was instructed to keep out of the way when the enemy attacks."
Cadderly looked to Elbereth, who, satisfied that no enemies were in the area, had come back to stand beside them. "Have you heard?" the young scholar asked.
Elbereth nodded gravely. "The forest is strangely quiet," he replied. "I had suspected that some mischief was afoot." His unyielding stare bored into Rufo. "Now I understand. How much did you tell the imp?"
Cadderly wanted to calm the elf, but he understood that Elbereth's fears went far beyond the safety of their little group. All of the elf's people had come west and would be dangerously exposed if the enemy knew their movements.
"I do not know," Rufo replied, lowering his gaze. "It is . . . was, difficult to mask . . ."
"We must assume that Druzil learned quite a lot from Rufo," Cadderly put in grimly, "about our whereabouts and the position of the elven force." Elbereth's wince made Cadderly pause a moment. "Should one of us go back and find your people and warn them of the danger?" the young scholar offered.
Elbereth thought it over for a moment, sincerely torn. "No," he answered at length. "The best we can do for my people is to finish our business quickly. We can go around the birch tangle and avoid the ambush, though that course will cost us some time."
"And time lost will surely cost more elves their lives," Danica had to add, her unblinking gaze not turning from the angular man.
"I did not wish to come along," Rufo started to protest. But he couldn't maintain his anger and turned away, then finished meekly, "I knew the imp would follow."
"Pity us if you had stayed behind," Danica spat, "for then we would never have learned of your betrayal!"
"Enough of this," Cadderly demanded. "We cannot change what has transpired, and we must not waste our time arguing."
"Agreed," said Elbereth with an approving nod. "We will turn south, then back to the west when the course is clear. And you," he said to Rufo, his eyes narrowing, "if the imp somehow finds its way back into your thoughts, speak at once!" The elf started off then, with Danica falling into line right behind. Rufo went next, flanked by the dwarves, who eyed him suspiciously with every step.
Cadderly hesitated a moment before joining them. The frog Ivan had pinned still sat on the ground at the young scholar's feet. Cadderly knew he was taking a chance as he reached down and removed the amulet, then pinned it under a fold of his own cloak, but it was a risk he decided to take. He had battled Druzil mentally once before, and had won that contest. If the imp tried to make contact with Rufo again, Cadderly would be waiting for him.
Danica and Elbereth noticed several enemy guards crouched in the brush and veered to keep out of harm's way. They wanted no more fights if they could help it, suspecting from Rufo's disclosure that the enemy had set a sizable force in the region for the ambush.
Cadderly felt the telepathic intrusions.
What is taking so long? came the thoughts that the scholar knew belonged to the familiar imp. The soldiers are in place and grow impatient.
In response, Cadderly conjured an image of the area they had been in when they had discovered the amulet upon Rufo, an area a short distance east of the birch tangle. He could only hope that Druzil wouldn't recognize his thought patterns as different from Rufo's, and he breathed a little easier when the imp's next communication came to him.
Good, Druzil told him. You are near the spot. When your companions get moving again, stay close to them until you see the birch, then get low and to the side. Mistress Dorigen would like to speak with you again.
Then, abruptly, Druzil was gone from Cadderly's thoughts. The young scholar clenched hard on the amulet.
"Cadderly?" he heard distantly. His eyes popped open he hadn't realized that they were closed and he saw his companions standing around him, staring curiously.
"It is nothing," he tried to explain. Elbereth grabbed his hand and forced it open.
"You should have been rid of this evil item," the elf scolded.
"I do not fear the imp," Cadderly replied. His confident smile gave the others some measure of relief. That smile disappeared suddenly when Cadderly looked upon Rufo, though, given the new revelations concerning his tall companion. So you have met Dorigen? Cadderly mused, but he kept his thoughts private, fearing that revealing what the imp had told him would cause trouble that the party could ill afford.
"Let us go on," Cadderly bade. "We have fooled our enemies. They still sit, anticipating an ambush at the birch tangle, but they grow impatient."
Elbereth took the lead immediately, Danica following on his heels, and Cadderly and the others in a pack behind.
"Ye didn't happen to bring along me frog?" Ivan asked hopefully, rubbing his belly. Cadderly only smiled and shook his head.
Elbereth turned back to the west a short while later, the elf hastening them along and slipping in and out of the shadows to the side and ahead with obvious urgency. They came down one slope into a region with less undergrowth than usual. Thick oaks dominated the area, and, though these were not much larger than the other trees of Shilmista, Cadderly could sense their age, and could sense, too, a brooding sentience, as if he were being watched from all sides and from above.
He knew they had come to Syldritch Trea. He moved over to one of the oaks and felt its rough bark, toughened by the passing years, the birth and death of many centuries. What tales these trees might tell him, and Cadderly believed that they could indeed. He believed that the oaks somehow could, and would if he had the time and patience to pause and listen.
Pikel, too, seemed caught in the sudden enchantment of this most ancient grove. The dwarf called out, "Oo!" several times as he hopped happily from oak to oak. He hugged one so tightly that, when he turned away, his hairy face was creased by imprints of the tree's bark.
"We have come to Syldritch Trea," Elbereth announced, though he could see that his companions, with the possible exceptions of Ivan and Rufo, had already realized that. Danica nodded, then scrambled up the tallest oak she could find and looked back to the east to see what storms might be brewing.
Cadderly took out the book of Dellanil Quil'quien reverently, for the tome seemed to hold much more meaning in this place. He looked to Elbereth, his jaw set firmly, and opened the book to the ancient summons. He felt again the sheer power of the trees, their inner life so different from any trees he had experienced before, and he knew beyond doubt that he had done right in convincing the elf prince to come to this place. He knew, too, the truth of his words when he again declared to those around him, "It will work."
*****
Temmerisa reared and Shayleigh dropped from her saddle. Around her she saw only trees, but she knew from memory that no trees should have stood in this place.
"Tintagel?" she called softly. In response, one of the trees shifted form, becoming the elf wizard and stepping out to greet Shayleigh.
"Well met," Tintagel answered, smiling in spite of their dire situation.
Shayleigh returned the grin and looked around at the unnatural trees. "How many?" she asked.
"A score and seven," the blue-eyed wizard replied. "It is my most powerful spell and one that should catch our enemies by surprise. Do you like my work?"
Shayleigh imagined the astonishment on the passing orcs' and goblins' faces as twenty-seven illusionary trees reverted to their true forms as elven warriors! Her widening grin answered Tintagel's question.
"How go the other fronts?" the elf wizard asked.
Shayleigh's smile disappeared. "Not well," she admitted. "Our enemies have gone farther south than we believed. And those monsters in the east have learned of our movement and are sweeping back toward the west. We have scouts searching now to see if those southwest of here are moving east to join them, or if we still have an escape route open to us."
Tintagel considered the grim news. When they had formulated their plans to come out near Syldritch Trea, they had known their success likely would depend on secrecy.
Now, somehow, the enemy apparently understood the scale of their movement, and that boded ill indeed.
The tension did not lessen a short time later when several elves rode up, King Galladel at the lead.
"The south is blocked," the elf king proclaimed in a superior tone. "Our folly in coming here is revealed to us in full."
Shayleigh did not turn away under the elf king's accusing stare. Only a few of Shilmista's elves, most notably Galladel, had argued against the action, but so determined were most of the people, Shayleigh included, that the elf king finally had agreed to the desperate plan.
Even with the enemy moving to surround them, Shayleigh held firm to her belief that they had done the right thing in trusting in Shilmista's magic. Shayleigh believed, too, that her dear forest was worth dying for.
"We will find the weakest point in their advancing line," Galladel reasoned. "If we move fast and hard, perhaps we might break through."
"When we came out here, we knew that our success would depend on Elbereth's call to Syldritch Trea," Tintagel reminded them. "If we had not the courage to see that through, then we should not have come out at all."
Galladel glared at him. "We are barely a hundred strong," he said, "with only a handful of horses. Our enemy's force numbers in the thousands, giants and ogres among their ranks."
"Let the battle begin then," Shayleigh added. "Let our enemies come on, every one. When it is ended, Shilmista will again belong to the elves!"
"When it is over," Galladel growled, "Shilmista will be no more."