Authors: Ed Gentry
“Orir,” Taennen said, stepping closer to Adeenya. “We must find a way for our people to bond. Their lives may well depend on it soon.”
“I agree, Durir. Suggestions?”
Jhoqo’s voice broke in as they crested a hill. “I think it may be moot for the moment. If this does not bring them together, I am uncertain what would.”
Taennen followed Jhoqo’s gaze to where a form took shape in the distance. Tall and thin, it stood out dark and solid against the bright blue sky. It was farther off than his naked eye could distinguish, so he pulled a spyglass from his belt and held it to his eye. In the small circle of his view, Taennen saw it for the first time: Neversfall.
Through the lens it appeared like some child’s construct of blocks. High walls on each side held what was likely a large courtyard. Two lean towers stood on each side of a third, larger tower that rose into the sky to at least twice the height of the others. What could only be windows showed as dark spots at a distance. The wood came from the Aerilpar, no doubt, but the stone? Taennen had always heard that magic was involved in the making of the tower, and now, seeing the sheer size of the thing, he believed it.
He handed the lens to Jhoqo who stared through it for
a long time before returning it. Murmurs wove their way through the marching troops as the structure came into sight.
“Very impressive,” Jhoqo said.
Taennen offered the spyglass to Adeenya who studied the citadel through the lens for several breaths before handing the spyglass back to him.
“It makes you ponder how they craft such wonders, doesn’t it?” she asked.
Taennen nodded.
“Well, no time like the present to find outright Durir?” Adeenya said, before turning to Jhoqo and saying loudly, “What’s our approach, sir?”
Jhoqo called the troops to a halt with a wave of his arms and shouted orders that followed down the lines. “Take twenty people, half Maquar and half Durpari, and scout outside the citadel, around its perimeter.”
Adeenya affirmed the order and saluted.
Jhoqo looked to Taennen before he continued. “You will take ten more people, again from both parties, and secure the entrance. Once the perimeter is secure, scout the inside. The rest of us will stay here and guard the prisoners until you confirm the area is safe.”
Taennen accepted the order and motioned for Adeenya to lead the way through the lines to choose their squads. Jhoqo barked orders for troops to form up and to secure the prisoners in a holding position.
“Bright and true, Orir,” Taennen said as he walked beside the Durpari commander.
“Thank you, Durir. Splitting our units into combined commands should yield some results as well,” she said.
The two leaders chose twenty of their own soldiers and, after brief summations of special skills that existed among
the troops, split them evenly. Adeenya rallied her new unit and began a wide circle to the west that would take them around the distant citadel. Taennen asked each of the Durpari soldiers in his command to state their names as a means of introduction. He repeated each name, hoping to commit it to memory. Impersonal commanders often led troops that did not care about their leader. Taennen never wanted to be that leader.
He offered a final salute to Jhoqo before moving toward the citadel at a jog, his troops behind him. Neversfall came into clearer focus with each step. Taennen felt the itch of mystery and intrigue but had learned that curiosity could kill even more easily than a sword. He called for sharp eyes from his soldiers and took pleasure in his vocation and the opportunities for discovery it offered.
After a considerable jog, Taennen called a stop and put his spyglass to his eye again. He scanned the area around the citadel, hoping the proximity might yield more results. He expected some sort of scarring on the walls, bodies on the ground, or some sign of disturbance. He found nothing but dirt, grass, and stone walls. He continued his scan to find the edge of the woods and was lowering his spyglass when a splash of color caught his eye, something that seemed out of place. He tried to focus in on where he had seen it but saw only green, leafy plants and brown tree trunks. Everything appeared normal until he realized that some of the plants were bouncing as though they had been disturbed. Taennen watched the area for several more moments, seeing nothing. He tucked his spyglass away once again and resumed his march to the citadel. If something had been in the woods, it was gone. Their mission could not wait. Taennen’s excitement turned to caution as he approached the gates of Neversfall.
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Rectangular blocks of stone as long as a man were carved smooth and fit together tightly to form the outer wall of Neversfall, with each block reaching a height near six men high. Clay and mud lined the cracks between the stones to seal out the gusts of wind common to plains, though the craftsmanship was extraordinary and the lines were thin and hard to find. Crenellated walks topped the wall, and narrow slabs of stone taller than a man stood every sixty or so paces atop the walkway. Each slab had an opening carved in the middle, arrow slits for archers. Two men could stand behind the slab atop the wall, totally protected. They could alternate their shots through the slit while still remaining well covereda clever design.
The force that had come to Neversfall previously had also been comprised of both Maquar and Durpari troops. Adeenya wondered if those two forces had similar difficulties meshing together. Moreover, she wondered if her expedition would find that company and in what condition. She kept a fast pace, ordering her troops to spread wide and look for anything out of place as they circled the citadel west to east.
Behind the walls she could see the towers of the citadel, three giant fingers stroking the sky. The two smaller towers rose to twice the height of the wall, and the central tower was half that tall again. The high but sparse grass of the plains had been burned away from the citadel for several hundred paces. Adeenya ordered a contingent of her troops to the grassline to ensure no surprises waited there. She hoped to find clues to the location of the former force sent to the citadel. She feared the worst. The squads should have seen someone by then.
The area around Neversfall was quiet, with a soft breeze rustling the grass in light gusts. Adeenya continued around the citadel to the north side. To her east was the Aerilpar, to her west open plains. Though stories abounded about the Aerilpar, Adeenya found the plains more foreboding. Forests hid their secrets in their dark depths and that was understood. One walked through a forest on guard. Plains, though, had their secrets hidden in the open, where they were least expected.
All the walls of the citadel looked identical. She saw no damage and that bothered her even more. If the previous force of Durpari and Maquar soldiers were dead, what had killed them? She saw no scorch marks, no stains from hot oil being poured through the machicolations onto attackers. Not even a single errant arrow in the ground.
Adeenya could see the disquiet on the faces of her troops. She picked up her pace to reach the gate of Neversfall. The mystery ate at her, and she wanted it resolved, regardless of the outcome. As she rounded the corner, she saw the large, dark doors of the citadel. They stood open, four of Taennen s force guarding them. They saluted as Adeenya approached.
“Orir, the durir awaits you inside,” one of the guards said as she reached the gate. The doors were three men high and two wide. They were easily as thick as Adeenya’s upper arm, as were the iron bars that stood nearby to hold the doors against attackers.
She walked through the opening into the courtyard of Neversfall. Adeenya split her troops into four squads, commanding each to examine the inside of one outer wall, looking for signs of struggle and checking the walls for weaknesses.
Adeenya continued toward the center of the courtyard. Like the walls of the citadel, the three towers were made of
smooth, dark stone. In addition to the towers, small one-and two-story buildings were spread around the courtyard, most of them built on short, sturdy stone pilings. Between the stilts were ditches about knee deep.
“Fire,” Taennen said beside her.
“What?” she asked.
“The trenches. If an attacker were to lob fire over the walls, it could spread along the ground, but without a strong wind to force it along, it wouldn’t make it past the trenches,” he said. “It protects the buildings and gives the citadel forces a place to escape the fire.”
“Arrows too,” she said. “You could shelter yourself from arrows under each building.”
Taennen nodded. “Yes, sir, you could. Good eyes, Orir.”
The courtyard itself was large and well kept. Each wall looked to be twice as long as the tallest tower was high, giving the interior courtyard a spaciousness that the other buildings did not fill up. No buildings at all stood along the northern wall, likely intended to be used as training grounds and an assembly area. There were also no signs that anyone had ever occupied the citadel. A chill ran up Adeenya’s spine.
She climbed the short steps to one of the barracks. Ten cots lined each wall, with space for many more. A bedroll was neatly folded at the foot of each and twenty chests sat on the floor. Two Maquar were examining the contents.
“What have you found, durir?” she asked.
“Just these things, sir,” Taennen answered. He held up a cheap brass symbol of the Adama. “It’s as if they never left.”
“No bodies? No discarded weapons?”
Taennen shook his head. “I wish I could say there was any clue at all, sir, but so far we’ve seen nothing. The food
stores are intact, the citadel’s log shows a final entry that describes no problems at all. The gate locks still function, and from what we’ve seen, the personal belongings of the lost company are still here.”
Adeenya shook her head. “This is damned strange.”
“No doubt about that. I’ll call in the commander,” he said. “Unless you object, Orir?”
“Go ahead,” she said.
Taennen nodded and shouted to one of his men, instructing the soldier to inform Jhoqo to bring in the rest of the troops.
“The towers have been checked?” Adeenya asked, facing the monoliths. “Yes, sir.”
Adeenya moved toward the tallest of the three towers. Though the citadel itself was named Neversfall, it was named for the tall central tower. The stones comprising the tower were smaller and more rounded than those that made up the outer wall. Though they were the same color, the tower stood out against the backdrop of the wall as separate, different in a profound way. Impossible and distant, Neversfall tower seemed to be watching them.
“I’ve never seen anything that tall. I never would have thought I might in my life,” Taennen said beside her.
” ‘Every day we are told what we cannot do, what can never be done. I dream of a day when the nevers will all fall away and leave only what we can do,’ ” Adeenya said, staring at the rising spire.
“Sir?” Taennen said.
She smiled. “A quote from Jeradeem himself, Durir. It’s where this place gets its name.”
Taennen said nothing, but Adeenya could see he liked the idea of the prophet’s words. Jeradeem was quoted a
thousand times every day in the Shining South, and that one had always been Adeenya’s favorite. Its hope-filled message about putting aside limitations had inspired her from an early age. She might not revere adherence to the Adama, Jeradeem s creation, like others she knew, but she appreciated the wisdom the man had left behind.
“Commander coming in,” boomed a voice from behind them. Adeenya spun to see Jhoqo leading the rest of the expedition through the gates.
“You’ll need to update him,” Adeenya said.
Taennen nodded but then hesitated. “Orir, perhaps to continue setting a good example for our troops, you could advise him?”
Adeenya smiled. “A fine idea, Durir. I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you.”
“I’ll give the central tower a closer look,” he said with a salute, then began moving in that direction. The anticipation on his face was clear, and she envied him his exploration.
Adeenya moved to meet Jhoqo, reminding herself that, although she was his equal in rank, he was in command and consolidating the two forces ensured a higher chance of safety for her people. Soldiers shouted back and forth to share their findings as they searched more buildings, the courtyard echoing with their voices. Adeenya heard every word and intended to make sure Jhoqo did as well.
“Sir, the citadel has been secured,” she said to Jhoqo as his eyes scanned the courtyard. Behind him, soldiers set about unloading the few horses that accompanied them, and lieutenants divided men into smaller units to continue sweeping the fortress.
“Good, commander. Where is the holding area? I want these prisoners secured.”
“Aye, sir.” Adeenya shouted to Marlke who was just stepping out of the door to one of the smaller buildings in the courtyard. “Dorir, work with the Maquar terir, and secure the prisoners,” she said.
“Yes, sir,” Marlke replied before jogging off toward the enormous Loraica. The two standing near one another was like something out of a bard’s comic tale.
Adeenya faced Jhoqo again. The man stood in the center of the organized chaos with shouts and shuffling boxes all around him, but he never seemed shaken. He was a military man, and whether securing a fortress or taking over a village, the satisfaction at claiming something was rooted deep within him, as it was in any military leader.
“Sir, I recommend we bunk most of the troops in the buildings in the northern two quadrants. They’re closer to the open grounds should we need space in a hurry, and they’re farther from the front gate if we need time to prepare,” she said.
“Let’s have a look at one of these, Orir,” Jhoqo said.
Adeenya opened the door to one of the many smaller structures inside the courtyard and stepped inside. Inside was another simple arrangement with narrow beds and storage chests for forty soldiers. At her best estimate, Adeenya guessed Neversfall could sleep more than four hundred souls in these buildings alone, and the courtyard was spacious with plenty of room for expansion. Beyond that, there was only the forest hemming in Neversfall’s growth to the east.