Fred jerked up from his bedroll and opened his eyes. The light of
the morning sun
flooded into his face and he winced. After his eyes adjusted he saw to his
relief that there
were no bodies, no blood and no demons anywhere in sight. The dwarves were
very much
alive and had the cook fire going. "The man is awake," Baren nodded to the
others.
"They like they're sleep, these humans," Dokken said. "Did you have a
sweet dream?" he
asked Fred and then laughed. Baren laughed along with him, "Hah! They
sleep half their
lives away."
Fred said nothing and instead turned toward the breakfast that had been prepared. He wanted to be up and out of there as quickly as possible. Soon, after everything had been packed, the group started on their northward journey once again. It passed by much as it had for the last three days, except perhaps in being even more dreary and wearisome than usual. The dense wood became ever more choked and overgrown. Finding a path was difficult at best. The sun was blocked from view and the air was stale and hot. And of course there were the everpresent deadrels. It was obvious that the dragon's peak had been on the southern edge of the Fox's Forest and that to the north the dark wood extended a great way. Exactly how large the forest was none of the party knew. And the dwarves had no intention of finding out. They continued to head north but bent their way always to the east, higher and higher up the steadily rising ground that was but the first step onto the mountains of the Goth. The forest grew along the foothills of the range and so the dwarves sought the heights above them so as to rise above the tangled trees and hoary moss that fenced them in. But the Forest was not very accommodating, and often the ground dipped or sent them skidding down sudden drops. It was toward the end of the day that they descended such a downward slope and came upon a small clearing. The deadrels had stopped their incessant squawking and Fred hoped for some respite from the noxious wood, but unfortunately the clearing held anything but comfort or ease. The four travelers looked up into the black branches that overhung the clearing and stared at five withered bodies hanging from moss covered vines. On the ground below their feet was a rusted helmet and the bony remains of someone who had once been alive. The dwarves crossed over to the half buried bones and picked through them. Baren discovered a stained leather buckler. He motioned to Dokken and the dwarf reached out and took it from him. Scratched into its worn surface were four words : beware the lost wood. Lem though had found something else. He bent down and carefully pulled a skull out of the pile of dead leaves. He mumbled something and the other two stopped in their tracks. They turned to him and the skull that he held. "What is it?" Fred asked. In a queer voice, Lem answered, "This is a dwarf skull." Behind them, Fred suddenly saw a large shadow streak behind the trees, at the same time the dwarves spotted at least two more shadows moving behind Fred.
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11/6/1999 4:38:13 PM
Extending Enabled
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