“Avrank! You know it means certain death to attempt a climb in the dark of night!” the other dwarfs scolded.
“And to face down a Forest Troll hunting party means what?” The small dwarf said back in a calm and collected tone.
Shuran thought for a moment. “Why would these trolls be chasing us?” He asked.
“They are territorial but they normally would not waste time or energy chasing us unless they saw us as a threat,” the twins said.
“They are not the most intelligent of creatures and rather lazy. It is not likely they will continue after you thwarted their charge with Essence weaving,” Avrank said.
This did not hold true however, as the sounds of crunching snow under slowly approaching steps broke the relative silence of the camp.
“So much for normal behavior!” Mallick whispered.
“This makes no sense. Trolls fear Essence more than most creatures in all of Ersetu!” Avrank said.
“Then something has them frightened even more, but what?” Mallick asked.
“Chaos,” Shuran answered flatly, “they are working for the Order to find us.”
“How can you know this?” The twins asked.
“It is the only thing that makes sense. The Order will stop at nothing to find me. These trolls may not know who we are but they are likely out looking for anyone out of place. Now that I have used Essence against them, they will be certain to follow,” Shuran finished.
“Then we must stop them. They cannot be allowed to notify the Order of our movements.” Mallick said.
Shuran just nodded and headed toward the approaching trolls, glowing brightly to eyes that could see his shi.
Mallick and the dwarfs all shuddered and blinked back from the vision of Shuran surrounded by a brilliant red glow. He was angry.
“You come human! We take you… leave others alone!” the troll in the lead said.
“Why do you give us chase troll!” Shuran demanded.
The mounted trolls began to form a semi-circle around Shuran. They were hairy half human looking creatures about shoulder height to an average man. Their eyes were huge in relation to their wrinkle and wart covered faces.
The lead troll just stared back at Shuran with his row of pointed teeth showing behind his snarled lips. “YOU COME OR BE DEAD!”
Shuran just stood there waiting and watching with his senses extended to feel the other trolls around him. They were frightened beyond measure, but not just of Shuran. “Who has called upon you to give chase to humans?” Shuran asked again.
The troll did not answer with speech. He made a motion of his hands and the surrounding trolls began to dismount their boars and close in on Shuran’s position.
“I do not wish to harm you but I will defend myself!” Shuran shouted back.
And then the first rock flew.
Shuran extended his mind to stop the stone but nothing happened and it grazed his shoulder as he finally dodged to the side. He was confused by what had just happened but had no time to think, as more stones began to arc toward his position. He rolled, ducked, and dove out of the way trying to repel the falling rocks. He attempted to construct a shield around himself but the stones fell right through unimpeded.
Shuran was lying prone on the ground after one of the projectiles hit him in the head. As he tried to gather his wits the troll leader moved to stand over him.
The troll lifted his club above his head readying to pummel Shuran when the first arrow struck the troll deep in the back. His body fell limp onto Shuran with a great grunt.
Shuran looked out from where the arrow had come and saw Mallick and the dwarfs sending volleys of arrows into the troll gang. Then darkness took him.
Shuran woke several minutes later to a splash of water to the face. Once he realized it was Mallick standing over him he took a moment to gather his senses and look out at the carnage that lay before him.
Twenty trolls lay dead around him and his friends. The bodies were a horrid scene of charred remains and lifeless pincushions.
“What has happened?” Shuran managed as he rose to his unsteady feet.
“You were knocked unconscious Shuran Shin’Ar!” Avrank said holding a stone. “They used these against you.” Avrank handed the stone to Shuran who immediately felt the void of energy and dropped it.
“What is that?” He asked feeling repulsion for the rock.
“On the surface it is just gug, but it has been tainted,” the twins said. “We do not know how but it is obvious why,” they continued. “They were sent after you, or more likely pressed into service to help search the realms for a wielder. Someone gave them the altered lodestone.”
“These things will not be reporting our whereabouts,” Mallick said.
“They will eventually be missed,” Avrank said.
“We will pile the bodies then, and destroy them.” Shuran reached down and plucked another tainted gug stone from the ground and placed it into his satchel.
The seven travelers went about piling the dead trolls in an open area some distance from their camp. Shuran and Mallick worked Essence, rendering them to ash by calling forth elemental fire and spelled flame. Once there was nothing left but soot and bits of bone, the dwarfs finished the job by splitting open the earth below them and swallowing up the remains.
Avrank was visibly taxed by the effort as he wavered and nearly fell where he stood. They all slowly made their way back to the campsite.
“We must make for the mountains sooner than planned,” Shuran said.
The others did not relish the thought of climbing in the darkness of night but they did not argue. The trolls would be missed and sooner or later another band of the ugly creatures would come looking for their absent comrades.
“It will be light in a few hours. We will take it slowly and carefully until we can see better,” Shuran decided.
Shuran and the others broke camp and eliminated the evidence of their presence. Shuran called forth winds from the North to erase the path left from their approach to the mountain base. The snows were coming but they were not heavy yet and would have taken days to cover their tracks unaided.
The climb started slowly and awkwardly as Shuran and Mallick stumbled on unseen obstacles along the path. The dwarfs being familiar with the mountain trails were less hindered. The going was slow but before long the sun was brightening the skies enough to see better and they were able to quicken their pace.
The added advantage of climbing the western face of the mountain meant that they would be obscured in the shadows of the mountain until midday. The climbing gave Shuran time to think on his failure to face the trolls alone. He was deeply concerned and rather humbled by the events that rendered him useless and vulnerable.
If not for the actions of Mallick and his new dwarven friends, Shuran would have been beaten to death by the trolls. How could an attack by stones have had such an effect on his growing abilities with the Essence?
After the first couple hours of travel Avrank was showing signs of complete exhaustion. When questioned he shrugged it off and refused to stop.
Shuran had to admire his tenacity. Being undersized as he was by dwarven standards, the young dwarf must feel that he always has something to prove. This time Avrank would push himself too far.
As the group moved around a bend in the path, they reached a narrow ledge that would force them to shimmy one at a time to the wider path beyond a shear drop into a chasm. Each in turn, began the crossing. Backs to the mountain, they sidestepped along the ledge. Shuran had insisted the dwarfs go between him and Mallick. Progress was slow but steady. As Mallick and the first four dwarfs had finally made their way across, Shuran noticed Avrank’s fatigue. The small dwarf was wavering as he struggled to make his way to the other side of the chasm when he stumbled and slipped from the ledge.
Those on the far side of the ledge, save one dwarf, just looked on in horror and shocked silence as Avrank slipped from the overhang and free fell into the chasm.
Shuran acted on instinct and reached out after him. “Lil’Il!” Shuran spoke in the ancient tongue to lift with air. He strained to maintain concentration as he felt Avrank’s fall slow to a halt.
Slowly he began to rise up toward the ledge. As he reached level with the others Shuran, visibly tired, pulled on the whispers of the wind to push the motionless form of Avrank over to his friends awaiting on the opposite side of the deep crevasse.
Once Avrank was safely settled among his friends Shuran let loose of his grasp on the Essence and fell to knee. Mallick made to call out but Shuran reached into his pocket while lifting a hand to signal his wellness. Shuran pulled himself up as a faint but recognizable glow of Essence wrapped him in energy.
Mallick knew at once that Shuran had forgotten to use the stone to aid in his weaving but used it now to replenish his own strength.
Shuran made good time in reaching the others and making straight for Avrank.
“He lives but is breathing shallow,” Mallick said.
Shuran knelt down to examine the wounds his small friend had received slipping from the ledge. With one hand on the stone in his pocket, he placed the other upon Avrank’s head. “Dug Kalag-Ga!” Shuran intoned as he closed his eyes and reached into the unconscious dwarf to begin healing him.
As the other dwarfs watched on in stunned silence, Mallick as well, was awed by the ease with which Shuran was able to manipulate the Essence and heal the wounds upon Avrank. This was the same man who Mallick had to stand over to protect while he was laid out cold, from a rock to the head.
Avrank’s color returned quickly and his breathing deepened as his eyes fluttered open. “What happened?” he asked as Shuran removed his hand and sat back to open his water skin and offer it up.
“You took a bit of a fall. You will be ok now,” Shuran said as he held the skin while Avrank drank deeply.
Dvargan and Grafdrik both snorted at that statement. “Bit of a fall he says! You went head over arse into the chasm is all, and Shuran snatched you back up as easy as picking a berry,” the twins said in unison.
“You two really need to stop that or there will be another ‘bit of a fall’ before long!” Mallick smirked remembering Moona’s warning again.
Shuran held out his open hand and in an instant a sizable piece of dried meat appeared. “Eat this and have some more water to level yourself.”
Avrank took the offering and began chewing on the meat while looking up at Shuran with a deeper respect. “It is no small thing to save the life of another with us dwarves,” one of them said to Mallick. “And saving the life of Avrank makes it that much bigger.”
Mallick was not sure what that last statement inferred but he was certain they would soon find out.
“If you are feeling better Avrank, perhaps we could continue on now. The sun is high and we want to be within your E-Kur before any trolls or whomever they answer too comes looking after their missing ranks,” Mallick said as he helped him to his feet.
“I feel well. In fact I feel better than before…” he started.
“It was foolish of you to put such great effort into burying the remains earlier.” one of the other dwarfs said.
“I am sorry sheesh but I was only trying to help.” Avrank said.
“Just because we nursed at the same teat does not make us brothers, Tur!”
Avrank cringed at the slight. The other dwarfs were visibly uncomfortable but said nothing as they all continued on their way.
Shuran hung back with Avrank at the rear of the company as they continued to climb. The group made good time, only stopping occasionally to rest, eat, and drink. That night they found a small cavern in which to spend the night.
While the dwarves collected dead brush and branches from the bushes that clung to the cliffs, Shuran retrieved foodstuffs and Mallick setup the bed rolls. It was not long before there was a warm fire burning, and a pot of stew cooking. Shuran took a seat next to Avrank and offered him a wine skin that he also pulled from the Vault.
Avrank accepted the skin and a warm smile spread upon his face when he realized what was within. “Now that can surely lift the spirits!” he said after taking a hearty swig of Codger’s brew.
After Shuran took a drink and handed it back to Avrank, he decided to find out what was going on with Avrank and the other dwarf named Brakvar.
“He is not all bad you know,” Avrank said looking at his older brother sitting nearer the fire across the cavern. “He is just angry that our father insisted I come along to meet you. He feels like he is my nurse made because I am much smaller.”
“And that name he called you?” Shuran asked.
“Tur, it is not a nice thing. It means, to be small. To a dwarf it is not welcome to be called small by other, larger races, but to be called ‘Tur’ by a fellow dwarf is the deepest of insults.” Avrank was holding back his sorrow.
Shuran could not understand how a brother, a sheesh, could act so unjustly toward his own blood. “It seems to me that with what you did to help clean up the troll’s mess, and your quick thinking, you are quite a big help in my eyes. I am honored to call you friend.”