Grim didn’t need to be told twice, leaving at pace. Gurin was not far behind, unable to suppress an audible obscenity as he was forced to wade through the spill. Dog dry heaved once, but managed not to lose the contents of his stomach.
‘The postern gate is this way,’ Grim said to Gurin as the dwarf caught up to them.
The menials on guard duty saw them approach and opened the gate for them.
‘Has the wedding been fun?’ one of them asked.
‘The Dark Lord was eaten by a worm,’ Dog answered honestly.
‘Oh.’
Once outside, Sandon appeared with them.
‘What’s that your carrying?’ asked Og, gesturing at a staff the wizard held.
‘I found it upstairs. It belonged to Relandra the Enchantress. She was a friend of mine. Are you sure this is the best way out?’ he asked as Grim led them along the cliff walk.
‘Samael and the Kuthenians will be coming up the road to the front gates of the stronghold,’ Og answered, allowing Grim to concentrate on moving as fast as he could. ‘We don’t want to have to sneak past them. This is a longer route, but safer.’
‘Very well,’ said Sandon. ‘Here, have the amulet back. You’re the most conspicuous of us all, you might need it.’
Og grabbed the magic item from the wizard.
‘Did you like my Spell of Regurgitation?’ the wizard asked, just as the sea air had expunged the smell of the Refectory from Grim’s nostrils.
‘That was you?’ asked Dog.
‘Yes. I got the idea from my time in the city state of Rapoli. Do you know, the noble families of the city deliberately bring up the earlier courses of a meal, just so—’
‘Please, Sandon,’ said Gurin. ‘Not now.’
‘Oh, alright. Maybe I should tell you that story later.’
‘There’s one good thing about it, I suppose,’ said Dog.
‘What’s that?’
‘I don’t think I’ll miss the Dark Lord’s Refectory so much after that.’
A Score to Settle
It was a long and tiresome trek through the badlands that surrounded Fell Towers. At first, Og-Grim-Dog, Gurin and Sandon were nervous of being followed by the agents of the new Dark Lord. Once it became clear that they weren’t, the boredom of walking all day soon set in. The time was taken up by Sandon’s stories of all the places he had been, and Dog’s stories of all the famous people he claimed to have met. It didn’t take long for Grim to wish they were being chased.
But every journey has an end, and this one ended outside the opening to a dungeon, just north of the Moors of Misery. It was Wight’s Hollow, a place they had agreed on with Assata, Raya and the others as a good location to meet, should they all make it out of Fell Towers. Here they were reunited with their friends. It looked like the exercise and fresh air had done Princess Borte good. She raised an eyebrow at their appearance but said nothing. Grim wondered what she really thought of these people, who had kidnapped her, taken her to be married against her will to a madman, and then released her at the last moment. Probably, that they were rather stupid.
Sat with her around a fire were Assata, Raya and Hassletoff. The halfling tended to a pot that, if Grim’s nose wasn’t mistaken, contained a meat broth.
‘Fond memories of this place?’ asked the barbarian sarcastically in greeting.
Wight’s Hollow had been a low point of their dungeon crawl last year. It wasn’t really a dungeon at all any longer—more of a shopping excursion.
‘Knowing that Lilith and Samael control both the Bureau and Discount Dungeon Supplies means this place makes a lot more sense than it did,’ Og replied.
Mention of their new enemies brought forth serious expressions on the faces of those who gathered about the fire.
‘I’m sorry about Brother Kane,’ said Raya. ‘If I’d known he was working for the Dark Lord, I’d have warned you.’
The elf’s apology surprised Grim. Did she really blame herself, or Brother Kane, for the things they had done? Grim knew they didn’t deserve such an easy let off. Even so, it was a kind thought, and it made it a little easier to take his place by the fire with these people—people he felt he had let down in some way.
Over supper, they told the others what had happened at Fell Towers after they had left that night. Again, Princess Borte spoke little and didn’t react very much when she heard of the death of the Dark Lord. They were unable to say for sure what became of Fraser in the end, but they all agreed that Evie gave him a good chance of completing his escape.
Sandon told them what he knew of succubae. Demons able to take the female form, they could tie lesser beings to their will. The more they discussed Sheev’s, Discount Dungeon Supplies and the Kuthenian Empire, the more they realised what a devilish plot Lilith had constructed.
Then, finally, perhaps the strangest revelation of all. ‘Brother Kane, it turns out, is this creature’s son,’ said Sandon.
‘Sired by whom?’ Hassletoff asked.
‘That, we don’t know,’ said Sandon. ‘Kane is not a wizard, but he has formidable powers. We can speculate that he derives them, at least in part, from his demon heritage.’
‘When we got sight of the Kuthenian army heading for Fell Towers, I left Raya, Toff and Borte for a while,’ Assata explained next. ‘It wasn’t that hard for me to infiltrate their camp, disguised as a slave,’ she said, a touch of bitterness to her voice. ‘I learned that the new emperor is Tugh. Princess Borte’s uncle.’
‘I believe that solves the riddle of who killed my father,’ said the princess. She controlled her emotions, but it was not hard to see her pain. ‘Samael was a trusted official at my father’s court. No doubt in the confusion caused by my abduction, it was easy for Samael and my uncle to blame the assassination on the agents of the Dark Lord. I don’t doubt that was a part of Lilith and Samael’s plan all along. My uncle will be a more malleable ruler for Samael to control than my father was.’
‘Tugh appointed a general of the army,’ Assata continued, ‘ostensibly with orders to rescue Borte and punish the Dark Lord. But it was obvious that Samael had the real control.’
‘And I’m almost certain,’ Sandon added, ‘that this Samael is an incubus. The male version of a succubus. He and Lilith have been working together to win control over Pengshui and Fell Towers for some time. Now they have it. And I fear for Gal’azu. It’s not just that they now control the two largest armies in the land. Even though we have discovered their true natures, I know of no-one and nothing with the power to destroy them.’
And we helped to eliminate any heroes who might have been able to challenge them, Grim realised. He would keep that fact to himself. His friends might have forgiven Og-Grim-Dog for their other crimes, but if they knew what they had done in Varena…
‘Sounds like we’ll have to wait until we can deal with that pair,’ Gurin agreed. ‘But I think there is one score we can settle right now.’
All seven of them trekked through the Moors of Misery for the south. For Mer Khazer. Grim had an odd feeling that they were returning home, even though they had spent so little time in the town. But, he supposed, some places are just like that.