Lounging in the bar Evelynn drank her wine listening to the story the men at the other table were talking about. The conversation started with an old man talking of a sword. A sword black as the night made to kill dragons, DragonSlayer. It was a fabled weapon known throughout this land by myth alone but somehow it, this legendary sword, would cause great problems for her and her friends. How she knew it was beyond her, but she knew. Suddenly Corwin busts through the door through the door as though death himself was on his heels. In an instant, Gwen was standing and rushing toward him. Five minutes ago, she sent him after the man he had in one of his hands. The old man who told of the sword. He also had a cut along his cheek signifying that he had found trouble somewhere. She rushed him and the rest up the stairs to their rooms. And it was there that they learned of their new enemies, The Iron Ring, and it was there that they began a journey
Off in the distance there was a halo of lights which, to any traveler of the area, means three things; good food, good beer, great stories. Lotroyan, a small town secluded in the mountains but nestled around a volcanic hot spring, was known by travelers for the Inn and for the Zeke, the "Assassin." In reality, Zeke was naught but an adventurer and storyteller but who could control what people call the popular. Even those not from around here could appreciate the warmth and relaxation the town provided, everybody but Nathan. As he walked up the snow covered path towards the town he thought back to the events that brought him here. To him, this cold, desolate place just meant more work, and tough work at that. This group, The Circle of the Forge was not going to be easy to get rid of. They're tough and what's more they're smart, well most of them are smart. He glanced over his shoulder to see how his "companions" were doing. He didn't like working with other people, but this time he conceded that they might be useful.
As they entered town, they noticed that nobody was around. Slightly curious they began to investigate when the answer literally appeared in front of them, for there right on the sign to the blacksmith was a flyer that said: Dance Contest Tonight at the Golden Springs Inn. On it where directions to the inn, which really weren't required because all you had to do was walk towards the building with the lights, music and noise. Upon arriving at the inn, he told his companions to go find an inconspicuous place to stay at and meet him back here. They nodded and left, he turned to face the entrance and sighed because the place was so crowded that even a kender wouldn't want to go in there. However, he had a job to perform, which seemed as though it would be easy considering there were two women, a priest, a gnome, an elf, and big dumb giant human.
As he entered the building, he was overwhelmed by the smell of beer and spicy potatoes. He was lucky that he was well trained in the arts of thievery. Otherwise, this would have been an incredible nuisance, although he did manage to lift a few a coin bags. Suddenly he arrived at the edge of the crowd and was almost tripped by a huge pair of legs that went spinning by. Jumping back about a foot, he took in his surroundings. Directly in front of him was an area about twenty feet in diameter. In which a man about eight feet tall was writhing in what must have pain because no person with even a shred of intelligence would roll around on a tavern floor. However, after a moment he determined that the man, who he believed to be Corwin the Giant, was, apparently dancing because everybody was cheering for him. He also determined that Corwin's dancing was the reason that this place was so crowded. There were people every where except one corner where a gnome, who could only be the infamous assassin Zeke, had captivated an audience with an amazing tale of some sort or another. He quickly scanned the crowd looking for other members of the notorious group known as The Circle of the. As he scanned the tables he noticed one occupied by a man in a nice evening suit, a female in a gown, and a man in priest's robes. That could only be Reno, Gwendolyn Faireblade, and Asmar Nimes, all members The Circle of the Forge. The only ones he didn't see were Evelynn and Tyloch Treerunner, although he figured they'd show up eventually. Because right now he had to plan how to take them out.
Damn this place is crowded. Evelynn thought as she pushed her way through the crowd and almost ran into Corwin who, being the idiot he can be sometimes, was showing off his new "break dancing", as he called it. If only he hadn't found that damn book. She thought as she moved around to one side of Corwin's dance arena. She paused a moment to look for Gwen and the others knowing that she was late and hoping she hadn't missed Gwen's dance yet. Spotting Gwen sitting with Asmar and Reno she knew she was too late but hoped that she won anyway. Continuing, her gaze fell upon Tyloch sitting at a table by himself off in a corner. That wasn’t much of a surprise though, considering Tyloch never really enjoyed human company, being an elf and all. What was surprising, however, was the fact that if looks could kill someone in the room would have been dead by now. He was staring at something so hard she believed his eyes might just fall out. Following his gaze to table with three men she knew instantly why he was doing that. One of these men was keeping an eye on Gwen, Reno, and Asmar. Another was watching Corwin and the third was scanning through the crowd obviously looking for something, or someone. As she watched them out of the corner of her eye, the third man's gaze fell upon her and he nudged his companion who was watching Corwin. When the other man saw her he said something that made both of the others start and looks at him briefly. After a few harsh words the two looked at each other and resumed watching the targets, only now she was one of the targets. All three of had on dark clothes that struck something in memory but she just couldn't remember what. Although she didn’t like the way they were staring at her and trying not to be noticed, she only hoped that they weren't here to cause trouble. The group had finally managed to get home to the Forge and take a well-deserved vacation and she hoped that trouble hadn't come to spoil it. Oh well, not much I can do about it now, but might as well tell Gwen. She determined that Corwin needed to end the damn performance now because there was absolutely no way to walk in this damn crowd. Worming her way through the crowd she managed to get to the bar and order a glass of wine from the barkeep who, when she tried to pay, refused and said, "You're little friend is filling the corner with many a paying customer. Enjoy your evening madam Evelynn."
After a moment, she realized he was speaking of Zeke. The little story telling gnome who had more names then most people had clothes. Then she remembered Zeke mumbling something about having to practice his skills in storytelling seeing as how we haven't been able to just stop and rest since arriving at Feltrest last winter. And even then, just to tell stories in Feltrest you had to be a member of the bard's guild. Just then Corwin finished his "dance" routine and if it was loud earlier, it was deafening now. The barkeep then excused himself and went to a table with three people at it with a sign that said Judges. Since Corwin no longer took up the huge amount of floor space required to do his "dance". The crowd thinned out enough for her to make her way over to Gwen's table and have a seat. As she sat down the barkeep stood on his table and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have chosen a winner. The runners up for the First Annual Dance Contest are Gwendolyn Faireblade and Reno. And this year's winner is Corwin. For a prize, Corwin receives 300 gold pieces and this gold plaque. Congratulations Corwin."
The roar of the crowd drowned the last part of his speech out. Not that it mattered anyway because Corwin had been enveloped by the crowd and wasn't listening anyway. He was to busy celebrating his victory over Gwen, if you could call it that. But Corwin being Corwin would call it a victory, so let him be proud of himself. Looking at Gwen, she saw her wearing a half-smirk of amusement while looking at Corwin. Which meant she was probably gonna let him enjoy his moment, for now.
"Sorry to spoil the evening but there's a group of men keeping an unusually sharp eye on us all tonight." Evelynn said as Gwen looked in her direction.
"Where?" Was all Gwen asked.
'Four tables down to the right. The three in dark clothes."
"I only see two."
"What?" Evelynn exclaimed. Hurriedly she looks around the room and spotted the third guy heading for the door in a hurry. "The third's on his way out I’m gonna follow him and see if I can find out what's gonna on."
"Alright just be careful. Do you want me to send Corwin after you?"
"Thanks, no. I don’t need think I'll need that much help with just one."
"Alright see you back at the Forge." Without any more ado she finished her wine and darted after the cloaked figure just leaving the building.
Arriving in the street she spotted him heading down to her left and followed almost at run. Chasing him through the streets was especially hard considering the fact that he wasn’t trying to hard to be sneaky. Just as well he wasn’t. After about six or so blocks she rounded a corner and noticed he was gone. No traces to be found up or down the street. With a reluctant shrug she headed off to the dock to head back to the tower thinking she might as well get a good night sleep.
Passing the tavern she considered going in to tell Gwen that the man got away, but instead decided to just wait until the morning, three men weren't going to cause too much trouble on one night. As she strolled passed she saw a staggering shape emerging from the tavern and immediately recognized the owner of the local general store, Arthur Lugar. Hastily she tried to step into a shadowed alley but, unfortunately, to no avail. Arthur lumbered after her and shouted, quite drunkenly she noticed, "Hey Evilyn why don’t me's and you head down to my place and so you can se my tools."
Had that been any other strange man he would have been dead by now but from good old Arthur it was almost expected. "No thank you Art. And by the way how is your wife?" she added walking around the corner.
"Wife? What wife?" he asked innocently as he followed her around the corner. Putting her head down and continuing down the street, she felt more than heard him stumble to her side.
"Art go home you wife is probably worried sick about you by now."
"Oh ok. If you insist." Grumbling to himself, he started to head of down the street when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a glint metal flash through the air. Instinctively she dove to the ground just as the handle of an ax hit Arthur square in the head. With a groan he fell and hit the ground, whereupon he ceased movement. Hoping he was alive, she bounded to her feet in time to see two men step from the shadows of an alley ten feet back. One was armed with a crossbow; the other held a short sword.
"My, my he was lucky we weren't aiming at him." The one with the crossbow chuckled to his partner.
She recognized the one with the crossbow as the man she chased out of the tavern, but not the one with the short sword. "Who are you? And why are you after me?" She demanded.
"Who we are won't matter to you after we've killed you but you shouldn’t flatter yourself by believing that we are here for you and you alone. My superiors don’t like what you and you’re friends did in Feltrest so they sent us after you guys." He answered smugly. Apparent believing that this job would be easier than first believed.
"Ahhhh. The Iron Ring. So you guys finally caught up with us. I do hope that there is more than just the two of you. Because you will find us hard to dispose of with just two little people like yourselves. Plus you guys died so easily in Feltrest, three just won't be enough to go around." She answered coldly.
"Oh there's more of us believe me. Oh here's one now." At that moment she felt a blade slid into her back. Disappointment at being caught from behind was overridden by cold anger as she whirled around leg flying up to strike the man in the head wielding the knife behind her. As her foot impacted with a solid thud on his temple, she heard the twang of the crossbows string snap and felt the bolt imbed itself into her lower back. Slowly her vision began to go black and as turned she noticed an arrow impact in the leaders thigh and saw Corwin run up and solidly hit the other man in his chest with fist the size of a small fruit. Then the world was black.
"Shit! What the hell happened?" Exclaimed the cloaked figure as he walked through the door. He limped over to a table where he sat and began to treat a wound on his leg.
"We lost Jester, that bitch kicked him and now they have him. How much did he know?" The other figure asked as he lit a lamp and sat in a chair across from the first man.
"I know. He was an idiot. He should have waited until after I shot her because he knew the bolt was poisoned. At least we got one of those two women out of the way. I was told they were going to be some of the hardest of the entire group. Seemed pretty easy to me. To answer your question Jester knew nothing. It was safer that way. But what are we going to do. I don't want to have to send a message to Leo and either ask for more men or to tell him we failed. The Iron Ring doesn’t look very highly upon failure. How are you doing Sal? I think that big oaf broke a couple of your ribs."
"I don’t know Nathan. I don’t want to have to talk to Leo either. But if we're to kill all of them than we're going to need more men." Suddenly a bright flash filled the room with light and when it cleared, eight cloaked figures stood in a group in one end of the room. In a flash, both of the first two were on their feet weapons drawn. The lead figure in the new group took a step and flashed some signs with his hands. Nathan returned the sign language and, after a brief conversation of sorts, he motioned for Sal to put away his weapon. The leader of the new group stepped forward and presented a letter to Nathan.
After he finished reading he turned to Sal and said, "It seems Leo knew that we might need some help. If I've read this right I still retain command but the mage here," he gestured to the man who handed him the letter, "Is to 'advise' on my decisions. And to boot he can heal injuries. It also says that ten more men are to come in about an hour. So lets get healed up and start planning for tomorrow." With that, the mage and the others began to gather around the table while Nathan started laying down plans.
Slowly swimming up through the darkness, Evelynn awoke to a hand on her shoulder. Sitting up she realized that Tyloch was looking at her curiously. Not quite thinking straight she stood up and would have fallen except that Corwin was right there to support her.
"Are you ok?" Tyloch asked puzzled.
"Yeah I'll be fine I'm just a little weak right now. And I want this bolt out of my side. Tyloch can you get it out. What are you guys doing here?" She asked as she Tyloch came over and examined the wound.
"I noticed those two in the tavern earlier and knew they were bad news so I followed them and when they came after you I helped as I could. The way it was I was too late to stop anything but I did shoot one. This is in pretty deep. It's going to hurt" Tyloch answered.
"Just get it over with."
"Gwen sent me to check on you because the other two left." Corwin said anxiously. "What are we going to do with him?" He asked pointing to the other black cloaked figured.
"Is he alive?" She asked through clenched teeth as Tyloch removed the bolt. After Corwin nodded she continued, "Let's take him back to the tower and see what he knows about this. It's the Iron Ring and I know it. They gave away that much earlier. I think they have decided to try and come after us again. Let's get him to the tower." And with that Corwin picked up the unconscious figure and they headed for the boat to the tower.
When they arrived in the tower they found Gwen in the main hall and laid the body in a chair. Tyloch left to go and get some food. And Evelynn began relating the events to Gwen.
"I think they were trying to set you up. It worked out to perfectly for it to anything else. You show up in the bar, notice them watching us, and chase them into an ambush." Gwen said after hearing what happened.
"What do you to do about it? About him?" Corwin asked.
"Lock him in a room downstairs and post guard. We'll question him in the morning." Corwin nodded and dragged the body out of the room. After he left she turned to Evelynn and asked, "How are you doing? Tyloch said that the knife and crossbow bolt were poisoned."
"I'm alright just a little sore from the bolt. What do you want to do about those guys. If it's only the three of them it should be easy, but I don’t think that they would be that stupid after fighting us in Feltrest."
"Well first thing we need to do is se if there is only those two or if there's more. For that I suggest you and I go and visit the town, and get a little more information." She said with a grin and walked to get her sword which was propped against the wall. "Get you stuff and we'll go see what we can see."
"Sounds good to me." Evelynn said as she headed for the door.
Ten minutes later they met by the dock all armored and ready to go. In fact they made quite a pair, both wearing black armor and both with black sheathed swords. The only difference between them was the fact that Evelynn had silver/white hair and Gwen had black hair. Together they set off into the city to find out info on the group of Iron Rings members. Slipping silently through the streets they headed toward the alley where Evelynn was attacked. Upon arriving they found three pairs of footsteps leading away from the scene in the direction Corwin said he had chased some of the men, and indeed one of the pairs was about Corwin sized. They followed the footprints to where they lead to a square in a dark corner of the city, the footprints lead to a building that was dark and in apparent disrepair. Gwen signaled that she was going around to the left and Evelynn headed off toward the right, removing her sword from its sheath. The black blade of Elysian steel shimmered in the moonlight as she wound her way around to a back door. Keeping to the shadows of the nearby buildings she noticed a dark clothed man sitting in the shadows by the doorway, obviously keeping watch. Sneaking back to a point where she was not visible by the front or back doors, she darted across the street to the suspected building. Slinking to a window she peered inside and was startled by the number of people in the tiny room in front of her. Taking a quick count she ducked back and stealthily returned to the front to find Gwen waiting across from the building. "I counted about eighteen plus two guards at the rear, so that makes about twenty. I hope they plan to stay around for a fight." Evelynn reported as she put her sword back into it’s sheath.
"Yeah well we better get back in case they plan to come tonight." Gwen responded as she turned back towards the docks. "Hopefully we'll get to wait until tomorrow morning, I want some sleep tonight."
"There was two of them. They seemed to be checking the place out." Sal said as he walked up to where Nathan was standing watching the figures slinking through the shadows heading away from their base of operation.
"Only two?" Nathan said in a doubtful tone. "Send two of the new people out to get them, but tell them to hide the bodies carefully. I'm sure that their friend will be looking for them tomorrow."
"Yeah only two. Although one was Gwendlyn Fairblade."
"Gwen!" He exclaimed turning. "Shit. Make that four guards and tell them to use poison to make sure she's dead. Perhaps, if we can put her out now, the rest won't be so resistant. Maybe you should go with them too."
"Are you sure that that's necessary? Four guards plus me? I don’t think that that would advisable. Four should be enough for any possible pair in that group with the exception of Gwen and Corwin, and Gwen and the late Evelynn rest her soul." The last spoken with more than a little sarcasm.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. May Krovax treat her kindly." Laughing he left to return the sleep he had been enjoying before he had been disturbed. Awoken in the middle of the night for something as trivial as two people snooping around their hideout. He was beginning to feel that these new men were more of a nuisance than anything. Thinking of sending them home and claiming the honor of defeating the Circle of the Forge all by himself, he fell asleep happy.
"I don’t know. It seems too easy." Gwen said as they were walking back to the dock.
"What seems too easy?"
"All that just happened. Us getting in and out without anything. It doesn’t seem right somehow."
"Why doesn’t it seem right. We snuck in, got our info and got out. It wasn't too terribly hard, yes, but I think that that's because they are just a little too overconfident in themselves. That was what brought them down in Feltrest after we retrieved DragonSlayer and they kidnapped us, remember they locked us up and then we got free. They tried to kill us but didn’t finish, they tried to kill you and Corwin and didn’t finish. What happened in the end, they died. Overconfidence was what brought them down there. And in the end, I think that will be their downfall here."
"Still. I just…. I don’t know." Gwen trailed off still not quite believing.
"Fine, fine. If it will make you happy. I'll dip into a shadow and hang back for a few minutes, but only a few minutes because its damn cold out here tonight, even with the lake."
"Yeah that'll be fine. Maybe I'm just getting too old for this, it's getting close to retirement time I think."
"How many times have we heard that before huh.? I'll see you back at the dock. Wait five minutes I should be there by then." And without further ado, she slipped in a shadowed alley as they turned a corner.
Man, I hate this stuff. Waiting around for something happen. Gwen's just paranoid because of the Iron Ring. Evelynn thought as she waited in the shadows of the alley. Two minutes past and she was just about to give up when she heard something coming from the direction she and Gwen had come from. Sliding farther into the shadows she watched as four dark cloaked figures traveled hastily past. Shit, Gwen was right! She though as she ducked out of the alley after they had past.
Following them, she eventually was able to find a point in which she could see Gwen as she turned the next corner. At this point the figures began running, they're footsteps muted by the snow. As the men rounded the corner Gwen was about twenty feet down the road. As Evelynn rounded the corner they were about fifteen feet from Gwen. "GWEN behind you!" Evelynn shouted as she drew her sword and charged the closest man to her. Gwen, who had been expecting this call, was turned before the warning was finished, her sword sliding out its scabbard with a hiss. The men, who had determined that they had been royally screwed here decided to try and fight their targets two at a time, hoping to outnumber them and defeat them such. Unfortunately this was not the case. Evelynn slashed the first one down his chest and across his throat just as he was turning, and Gwen drew a large throwing knife and hurled it at one of the other's thigh, effectively removing him from combat. Both the remaining men knew immediately that they were outclass in terms of sword skill and, with this knowledge, they ran and didn’t look back for their friends. Evelynn walked over to the man she had attacked and, noticing he was dead, wiped her sword off on his cloak.
"Say it, Gwen. I know you want to. Go ahead, say it."
"I told you so. I knew it was too easy, although this wasn't exactly hard." She said glancing around towards the alleys and houses.
"Don’t even start thinking like that." Evelynn started, but stopped when she heard a groan from the man who, in all the ordeals, had been forgotten. "Hmm. Another prisoner." She walked over to him and kicked him in the head rendering him unconscious for the time being. After removing his sword belt, knife, small ax, and other knife, she checked his sword which lay in the snow by his body. "I knew it. They were using poison again. I don’t think they are here to bring us back. I think we really are marked for death now." She said standing and re-sheathing his sword. Well let's get him 'home' I for one could use a nice nights sleep."
"Here, here to that!"
Walking through the forest on this dark, wet evening was not Evelynn's idea of having a good time. But it was necessary, the goddess Elysia had requested that they do this. But that didn’t make her feel any better. Their mission was to precede to the lake, one of the many in the area, the only difference was that this lake was known as The Eye of the Dragon, and travel down to the Tomb of Obliviax. Once there they were to retrieve the sword Dragon Slayer, although in doing this they would slay, or rather awaken, the mighty Elder Wyrm, Obliviax The Black, however the adventurers didn’t know at the time they were going to, or even supposed to, release the Wyrm. Traveling through the forest Evelynn didn’t know whether they were lucky or cursed having this responsibility. As they arrived at the lake a boat was waiting, a boat with some sort of shield that protected it from the rain, and in the end, the lake water, as considering that to get into the tomb they would have to go underwater. As they traveled they were quite, sitting straight and still with the exception of Corwin who was stooped so he wouldn’t break the field with his head, if that was possible. It was discovered to be possible after Zeke accidentally poked a hole in the shield. Thankfully it healed but still, it wouldn’t be good if Corwin poked through with his head. As they rose through the dark murky water to a docking area of sorts, Evelynn began to feel less apprehensive and more curious by what was around her. Around her was a vast cavern with a hole in the middle leading into the lake from which they had just come. The only things in this cavern were two statues on either side of a large archway. Both small dragons with one ruby eye arching upwards with flames coming from their mouths. These flames provided the only light in the cavern, which illuminated the archway leading down a dark hall. A hallway that curved around into an, even larger cave. Slowly creeping down the hall they saw an odd looking statue, a figure standing just inside the cave, holding a weapon looking upward. Continuing around the bend to see into the next cave they saw two more statues. It was then that figured out that these statues were not natural and intended. Ahead of them they saw three passageways one on the left, one the right, and one in the middle. The two other statues stood in the middle of this cavern and were looking in the same direction as the first. The destination of their gazes was above and, thankfully, out of view. Gwen looked back and told them to wait here and with that she dashed out into the cave. Running hard it seemed she was obviously struggling with something. Finally she reached the other side and ran into one of the sides of the middle passage. She lay where she fell, visibly shaking in fear or anticipation, or something. After a moment she shakily got to her feet, still facing away from the cave. "Run," she said unsteadily, "Run fast and hard, and whatever you do, DO NOT look up." On the other side of the cave they came up with a plan, taking a rope from Zeke they flung it across to Gwen, unsuccessfully at first, but after a few tries they managed to get it to her. Then they looped one arm around it, had their hands tied behind and then they slowly, or quickly, made their way across from the cave, all struggling with the compulsion to look up. At last it became Evelynn's turn, even though she was actually going fourth it seemed like an eternity since Gwen had gone. After having her wrists bound and being blindfolded, she proceeded out into the cave, and was immediately overcome with the need to look up. Resisting she continued on, but the farther she got the more and more powerful the desire became. Finally she made her decision, one peek, just a quick peek then I'll continue on to Gwen. Struggling with her shoulder, she managed to slip the blindfold up just enough to peek out and as her gaze traveled upward she saw the paws of lion leading to…
Dawn came early in the mountains of Volkrad, early and cold. Evelynn woke with a start, jerking upright and immediately looking around. Her silver/white hair was damp against her forehead from sweat. Laying back down she tried to calm herself. Telling herself that it was just a dream, what had happened had happened a long time ago in a different part of the world. She slowly calmed herself using the techniques Gwen had taught her. She could vividly recall the dream, it was always the same dream, and she always awoke at the same point. Part of her was terrified at the thought of what had happened back there in the Tomb of Obliviax. And at the same time, a different part of her was immensely curious about it. But what had happened was far away and as she looked out the window in her room she saw that the sun was only just rising. Turning over she hope for a few more hours of sleep. After a half an hour of tossing and turning she gave up on the sleep idea and decided to see if Zeke was up, and, if he was, was he cooking breakfast, and what it might be. As it turned out, however, Sir Zeke was not up yet. It was too early for breakfast, she determined, considering the sun was just barely over the mountains. So instead she decided to scrounge around looking for food. After a bit of searching she found some of those beetle things that she and Gwen had found while in Elysia, and found to be quite tasty. Grabbing several she walked out of the pantry and down to the main hall. On the way she ran into Zeke, who started to say something then, after seeing the beetles, ran off down the halls screaming. Gwen and Corwin, who were in the hall, practicing karate, run out both holding their weapons, expecting no less than the entire Iron Ring to be storming the castle. Corwin, upon seeing the beetles in Evelynn's hand, turned and ran after Zeke screaming about the damned bugs. Gwen and Evelynn watched this all with amusement. "What are we gonna do with them?" Evelynn asked after she managed to stop laughing.
"I don’t know." She replied shaking her head. "I thought Zeke had thrown those beetles out, or at least had Asmar do it."
"Well, if he had then he missed a bunch. There was a whole platter of them in the pantry. I bet Tyloch made some, he likes them."
"Hmm… I think I'll go and grab some, considering that Corwin is no longer able to spar with me." Gwen said as she started walking off toward the pantry.
"If you want, I'll take his place? I could use a good workout." Evelynn said to Gwen as she walked off.
"Sure meet me in the hall." Gwen said over her shoulder.
Evelynn popped the last beetle into her mouth as she walked through the main hall to one just adjacent to it, which had been converted into a training area. Assorted practice weapons were in holders around the room. In the middle of the room was a large mat, which was used for karate. Evelynn stood off to one side of the mat and began to stretch while she waited for Gwen. After a few moments Gwen showed up and they sparred for several hours before finally stopping. By this time, say about breakfast time, most everyone was up, which meant that Zeke had to be cooking.
Wandering down the hall towards the kitchen she smelled some awful smell coming from the dining room. When she walked in she recognized the dish that Zeke was in the habit of making when he was in a bad mood. No on knew what he called it because no one cared to ask, seeing as how he was the only one who liked it that wasn’t much of a problem.
"Zeke, aren't you gonna be making breakfast?" Corwin whined as he walked in from the pantry. "I'm starving, I want something to eat."
"If you want something to eat make it yourself, or have her and the beetles make it cause I'm through. Damned beetles…" Zeke trailed off with half a dozens other curses in an odd assortment of languages, most though were about beetles or bugs however.
"So are you gonna make breakfast?" Corwin asked turning to face Evelynn, who stood in the doorway snickering to herself about Zeke's fear of bugs. "Are you gonna do the cooking around here from now on? I need to know who's gonna be making my breakfast."
Oh Corwin, make it yourself." Gwen said as she walked around Evelynn and into the kitchen. "You know how Zeke gets about bugs, every time they show up he throws a hissyfit about his cooking not being good enough, if we want to eat bugs so much why don’t we go and get them ourselves because he's not gonna cook anymore. But every time, what happens, later that day after the bugs are forgotten, guess who's making breakfast, not Evelynn, not me, Zeke that’s who. Don’t you worry about your food." Gwen said as she walked away from Corwin heading into the kitchen.
"You're too worried about your food intake Corwin, we're on vacation, at least through the winter, after we take care of some things in town, namely these people after us, but still it's a vacation, have some fun and relax. Speaking of which, Gwen, what are we going to do about these guys after us?"
"I don't know." Gwen said as she walked back in from the kitchen, nibbling on some food. "At the moment they can't get out here to us, but they might be able to change that. And if anyone goes into the town make sure they go in their combat teams, I know it's been awhile since we've used them, but do it anyway. Until then I'm going to be out swimming. Are you gonna come for another lesson in swimming?"
"Sure why not." And with that the two left to go and swim in the lake.
About an hour or so later Gwen and Evelynn returned to the main hall, where Gwen asked Evelynn if she could please go and gather everyone in there. That it was time to figure out what they were going to about the Iron Ring. Fifteen minutes later the group was gathered in the main hall of the tower talking amongst themselves, waiting for Gwen to address the group. Finally she began to talk, "Ok everyone. We have a problem here. Once again the Iron Ring has come out of hiding and decided to try and pick on us. They are staying in town in the abandoned building that used to be the Black Moon Inn. There were about twenty of them in the inn last when Evelynn and I checked it out. We killed one last night, and counting the prisoner we took their numbers are down to eighteen." Gwen left off in a sort of unasked question.
"I say we kill 'em." Corwin voiced instantly catching the hanging question. "Eighteen, that’s nothing. We could take eighteen just me and you Gwen, well maybe with a little help from the others."
"I don’t know. Eighteen is a lot Corwin, can you even count to eighteen?" Gwen asked jokingly.
"Yeah see watch. One, two, three, four, five, …" Corwin paused thinking about what came after five.
"Six, Corwin." Zeke whispered.
"Six, seven, I think…." Corwin continued.
"That’s enough Corwin." Evelynn said impatiently, "Last night they didn't seem to, well, motivated to fight us. As soon as the fighting got tough, they ran like puppies with their tails between their legs. Maybe if we could provided some, say, incentive to leave, or something that seems like a better choice, like not dying a horrible death, maybe they would leave voluntarily."
"That sounds like it might work, I would prefer not having fight eighteen men this week, or perhaps this next couple of days." Tyloch said while rubbing the hilt of one of his swords.
"It sounds like a good plan to me." Zeke said after putting down his Book of Knowledge.
"That sounds like a sound plan. Now we just have to figure out how to make it work." Gwen said. They all gathered around and began planning out a strategy.
"WHAT?!?! She's what? How can that be? That bitch should be dead by now. It's impossible. They must have been imagining her. There is no way she could have lived." Nathan exclaimed. He began passing slowly back and forth in the tiny room. "They must have been seeing things, Black Lotus isn't curable, even by magic. Although in Feltrest that Corwin guy was able to live through it, although he is a lot bigger and it was a smaller dose. No, no Leo, it was dark and they were under extreme duress, they must have been seeing things."
"If you say so Nathan, but they were pretty spooked when they got back. You heard the rumors about her, some say she's a witch or something."
"Yeah and if I believed all the rumors I heard Gwendolyn is a God, Corwin is a half-giant, Zeke is a master assassin and the Dark Queen is currently living in Tyr, so I'd have to think that that is a bunch of bull shit too, if you don't mind. Now quit your blabbing about rumors I need to talk to the mage, we need to finish this job, and soon." With that he turned and walked out of the room leaving Leo standing there starring at the floor.
"I think she's a witch. And when we get finished here, I'm gonna make her tell me she is, anyway I can." He said to no one in particular, then looked up with an insane gleam in his eyes.
Corwin and Asmar sat around the bar at the Golden Springs in watching the people come and go. They have been walking around all day searching for the Iron Ring members in the city. Now they were waiting for Gwen and Evelynn to meet them here and take over. Asmar was thoroughly enjoying his ale while Corwin was watching for the girls. "You know Asmar, I was thinking."
"Oh my, that must have been a new experience for you Corwin. What did you think?"
"Shut up Assmart. Anyway I was thinking about Gwen's plan. And about what we were supposed to be doing today, and I just think that…"
"Ssshhh. Look who just came in." Asmar said nodding to the door where five figures dresses in dark cloaks had just walked in to the bar. Two of them went to the bar and began talking to the bartender. Another two picked out a table. And the last began scanning around the room, rudely. When he spotted Asmar and Corwin at their table he had no sign of recognition, or acknowledgement for that matter, and walked to the men at the table where he sat and took a drink, studiously ignoring the two of them.
"They must have been following us all day. They came in right after us and knew we were in here. I'm not too sure if the plan is quite the right thing to do either Corwin." Asmar said quietly over his glass. "How much do you want to bet that there will be some coming in after Gwen and Evelynn, too."
"That’s a bet I don’t want to take. What should we do?"
"When Gwen and Evelynn get here we shall inform them of this, and maybe we can get a message to the tower and get Tyloch and Zeke down here and finish this tonight."
"I like that idea. I've been looking for a good fight since the beginning of winter, sparring just ain't the same, I've been needing the real thing. But I'm not to sure about how Gwen would feel."
"Well it looks like we'll know soon, here she comes…eh! Where's Evelynn?"
The door to the bar blew open letting the cold air in and the hot air out, it also happened to let in the beautiful form of Gwendolyn Faireblade clad in black armor, carrying a sword, Dragon Slayer, at her hip like an extra limb. Wrapped in a dark, heavy cloak she threw back the hood and shook out her black her with a toss of her head. Glancing around the bar she spotted Asmar and Corwin, not seeming to notice the five men at the table in the corner, and immediately headed toward them. As she walked she turned to the bartender and nodded her head at the table which was met with a nod and a barked order at one of the serving ladies, who quickly filled two glasses with the good ale from under the counter. Even as Gwen was sitting down, the serving maid got to the table with the drinks. "Corwin, Asmar how was the hunting today?" Gwen asked nonchalantly.
"Oh you know, same old, same old. But it ended up that the predator was in fact the prey. Have you ever noticed how that happens sometimes?" Asmar answered in the same tone.
"Yeah, we noticed. I sent Evelynn back to the tower for more supplies. We plan on staying out late tonight. Some evening hunting, you know? Would you two care to join us? We're going to be heading down to the lakeside to hunt for game whilst they're drinking and unaware."
"We'd love to join you. After the shoddy catch we had today I could use time to redeem myself in the big guys eyes. He just doesn't seem to get it sometimes. He can't quite figure out why the game's so short." At that the door blew open again and in walked three more dark figures. "You're catch wasn't too bad I see." Asmar added with a chuckle.
"Well you know, two lovely ladies such as Evie and I, we can't help but drew something to us."
"Evie is it now Gweny?"
"Call me that again and I'll rip you throat out." Gwen said with a pleasant smile over the lip of her drink. "And I wouldn't suggest calling Evelynn by that name either, I just do it to bug her. She might go after you for saying something like that. Shall we go?" She asked.
"I'm not finished with my drink yet." Asmar complained.
"Where are we going?" Corwin asked with a puzzled look on his face, obvious clueless to the whole conversation.
"Hunting for Iron Rings my dear slow friend." Gwen said into his ear, which caused his face to brighten immediately.
"Goody!" He exclaimed acting reminiscent of a three year old at fair time. As they walked to the door, swords rattling, the eight Iron Ring members turned their heads and prepared to get up, nonchalantly of course.
As soon as they had left the bar Gwen broke into a run, heading towards the docks yelling over her shoulder, "Evelynn, Tyloch, Zeke, and Reno are preparing to ambush them at the docks. We need to be there first."
After going down a few buildings, she slowed to a fast walk, as though they were running from their pursuers, just not running very fast. Gwen turned to tell Asmar and Corwin to hurry up and as she did she noticed the door to the bar open and many dark shapes dash out and follow after them, at about their pace.
After going the slightly roundabout way to the docks, just to make sure that they were indeed after them, Gwen finally lead the group to the docks. As they entered Gwen looked around and saw Zeke at the far end of the street up on a roof top crossbow in hand. Evelynn was in an alley two houses down from their current position now, and Tylock across the street from her, both wielding their pitch black Elysian bows with arrows nocked. Reno she saw pop out of a window, nod, then duck back down again. Immediately she looked around for the two men who had been following Evelynn and noticed a bit of bloody snow at the far end dock area. She slowed her pace and let Asmar and Corwin catch up, she loosened her sword and said, "You two walk on down to the docks like normal, I'm going to pretend that I left something at the bar. When I give a yell, come back and start fighting, Evelynn, Reno, Tyloch, and Zeke are all ready. Let's see if we can finish this now."
"Gwen don’t forget about me." A voice said from the shadows. Before they could draw their weapons Elthrynn stepped from the shadows and said, "I will be up there," he said, nodding his head upwards, "I have a few spells for these guys." And with that he floated up and was soon out of sight.
Even before he was gone Gwen was turning and saying loudly, "Hey guys, I think I left something back at the inn. You guys go on ahead to the island, I'll be back in a second."
"Ok Gwen. We'll send the boat back for you." Asmar replied just as loudly. And Gwen started walking back to the town, carefully looking for the men, but not looking obvious about it. After getting about three buildings down she noticed the men coming up from one of the side streets. She then turned back towards the boat and began walking, hoping that they didn’t see her notice them. Listening carefully for the sounds of footsteps she strolled down the docks. After just a few seconds she saw them come around the corner she had just left. As she was just about to turn another group of about nine men appeared from an alley just down the docks from her. In an instant her sword was out of it's scabbard, at the same she shouted into the night. A second later four of the men in front of her fell to the ground. From behind them she saw Asmar and Corwin running down the docks, both screaming to divert some attention from Gwen. As it turned out it worked, six of the nine men in the rear turned in surprise and set upon Asmar and Corwin. Gwen wasted no time in taking out some of the surprised would-be assassins. She stepped up to the nearest one and slashed across his chest with her sword, then followed that up with a quick elbow to his temple. Before he had even hit the ground she spun and cut the throat of another of the men who helplessly fell to the snow, bleeding from the gash at his neck. At this time another volley of arrows came from the shadows, and with the arrows came Evelynn, charging from the alley sword drawn. She charged into the three men behind Gwen, instinctively, from years of fighting alongside Gwen, she came back to back with her, and began a deadly dance, the dance of death.
Watching from his hiding spot, Tyloch couldn’t help but notice as Gwen and Evelynn fought the remaining six men, that they looked as though they were involved in an intricate dance, with each other. Turning, spinning, slicing their foes before they even had time to react to the swords. Parrying, dodge, they looked to be the winds of death as they cut down the men in just a few short seconds. After the last men fell, they both looked up to each other, grinned and moved down the docks to where Asmar and Corwin were. When they got to about halfway between them a flash lit the night and another group of eight men appeared behind them. In the instant they appeared a flash came from above and lightning arced down to hit the lead man, one wearing a lighter cloak. He fell to the ground, smoldering. The startled men jumped out of the way, four to one side, three to the other. The man hit didn’t get up, at all. Almost before they hit the ground they were up again. On of the men on the right stood and said, "Now!" And he dropped to his knees. The other two men in the front also dropped to their knees, as the four men behind brought crossbows up to their chests, took aim, and fired. Evelynn and Gwen dove to the ground as did Asmar and Corwin. Unfortunately, they weren't quick enough. Gwen and Asmar received glancing blows off their armor, Corwin was shot in the left arm, and Evelynn got hit in the upper thigh on her left leg. Falling to the ground Gwen rolled and stood, drawing a knife and releasing it as soon as she was up. The knife buried itself into one of crossbow wielding men's chest. Asmar got up a little bit slower but as soon as he did there was an ax in his hand, but it wasn't there long as he took aim and threw it immediately after. It found hold in one of the men's shoulder and the poor fellow fell back to the snow with a yell. As that was happening three men who were in front rose to their feet drew steel and ran at Gwen and Evelynn. Before they had taken five steps they were cut down by arrows from the hidden archers. Gwen charged towards the two men who were still standing and killed them both with ease. As she turned from finishing them she saw Evelynn pull the crossbow bolt from her leg and try to stand. Corwin however was not looking so good.
"Corwin are you ok?" she asked as she ran to the big fellow. "Tyloch, get over here." She bent before him and began trying to assess his injuries. The crossbow bolt did little actually damage, but she feared that it was poisoned. Without looking up she told Asmar and Evelynn to find Reno and scout around to see if any of them had made it out alive, and to kill them if they had. As Evelynn and Asmar ran off, Zeke and Tyloch ran up. Tyloch immediately began trying to get the bolt out, which, thankfully, only took a few short minutes. After it was Zeke inspected it, and nodded to Gwen confirming her suspicions. Elthrynn then landed by Corwin and told Gwen to move away, his magic might be able to help. He then closed his eyes and began speaking in the tongue of magic. After a few seconds he held his hands over the wound and it began to close.
"It's done. I've removed the poison and cured the wound, he should be alright now." Elthrynn stood looked towards Evelynn and Asmar as run up to where everyone was.
"That's all of them, for now." Asmar said with a finality to his voice. "They have learned Zamora's justice, next time they think twice about visiting us at home."
"Let's hope so." Gwen said as she stood, helping Corwin up to his feet. "Let's go home."
Nathan watched as the Forge walked away "Someday Gwendolyn, Evelynn. I will have your hides on my wall. This I vow in the name of Krovax." And with that he snuck out of his hiding place and began the long trip home, a trip he made in the disgrace of failure.
The End