| 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.
-
 What the heck is going
on here?!
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