The Lengthening Shadow

Back at Fernwood, something strange had been going on for days. The summer had been unusually hot, even on the northern borders. All of the castle and its grounds were penetrated by an inexplicable sense of dread, that something horrible was going to happen. All knew it was pirates, but Jake was not so sure. He felt that something dark was moving in Greenbloom, but it was not in the North. Something away South was stirring. And even worse, Jake could sense that some specter of evil was here, in Fernwood itself!

He walked quickly down to the kitchens to consult Bernie. He found the old hedgehog and they strode to his chamber in the High Tower. Jake reached into a trunk and pulled out the Ra Lestrer Gad’x Greenbloom Gzarté. He flipped to the table of contents, and to page 3604. Chapter 435: Deadbeast Bluff. He looked over the page and read aloud:

In my time, under King Firtger, no one has ever given thought to Deadbeast Bluff. Indeed, it has passed out of memory since the fall of Ra’vok, and I, as Recorder, am perhaps one of the only living beasts who still remember it. In the time of the Destromancers, it was a great stronghold and armory, delved into a cliff, filled with pits and caverns which hold fire and steel. It was built nigh to the castle of Tengdært , to which Ironclaw repaired before we drove him out. I have seen the bluff. A thousand feet high, leering over the jagged rocks and dark ocean below. There are many holes bored into the sheer sides, from which comes a glow and the sound of hammering, and clicking, always the clicking of some unseen terror before which strong warriors flee.

When we invaded the Bluff, it was a most horrifying experience. Thazancians crowded along catwalks and swung on ropes over the fiery chasms. We laid to the sword all we came about. They fled before us, but not the Sorcerer. Lo, he shot and laid low our soldiery with his wand, and wreaked great havoc. He took the form of a mink, with strange eyes. I was in the vanguard of Defteye as he charged the Sorcerer. His great sword clashed on the mink’s helm, and the Destromancer fell. He got up and ran down a flight of stairs deep into the heart of the fortress. That was the last anyone has seen of him for three hundred years. The Bluff is still a place of dread, and it was foretold that in the hottest summer, on the Eve of the Half-Year, the Sorcerer will rise again, and sacrifice the Maow King to his master, and destroy Fernwood forever. It has been prophesied, and if the Maow dies, then the power coming from his death-wound will be enough to bring the Destromancer Lord back from the Pit.

Reader, do not let the Maow King fall to the power of the Bluff, for his nemesis will be nigh to him there. That is all. Here is the prophecy:

On the hottest summer, good shall shed a tear

The Sorcerer will sacrifice, on the Eve of the Half-Year

The Maow King of Fernwood, to the power in the North

Then he will rise again, and evil will come forth

But if a valiant mouse, shall stop this vile power

Then the plans of Ra’vok, shall not come to flower

And the sword of the caves, found by the girl

Will, in time, aid the savior of the world.

Jake looked horrified. “The Eve of Half-Year! That’s twenty days away! On the hottest summer, that’s now! Bernie, what mice do we have?”

“Samuel, but he’s…”

“Samuel! That’s great! Where is he?”

“What I was going to say was that Samuel is away up near the Acar Mort.”

Jake looked crestfallen. He put the huge book back in the trunk and slumped down on his bed. “Well, I guess we’ll have to face the inevitable. I will die, and the world will fall. What a ‘great’ way to end my life.” Bernie sat down beside him. “Don’t worry, Jake. There is always hope in the darkest hour.” Jake went to his desk and started writing his treatise on beaver trade that was due to Arvand in three days.

Bernie went back to the kitchens, giving a few messages to guards as he went.

“Thayder! You’re assigned to the walls!” Thayder, a strong otter, looked at Bernie in surprise. “Hey! How did yew get back ta Fernwood? You were on the ship!” Bernie stared squarely at him. “I walked back. Now, get to the walls.” The bewildered otter went to the walltops to watch. The hedgehog went along through the castle to his room. Thayder walked along the stone ramparts and looked out. In the distance, he thought he could make out a shadow, growing from Deadbeast Bluff. He rushed to the High Tower and into Jake’s room. “My lord! There is a shadow and a smoke to the South!” Jake stared forlornly out the window. “I know. I have seen it for days. The doom of all Greenbloom is there. Sooner or later, all will fall to the South or the North. The world will come crashing down in fire and ruin.” Thayder stared in astonishment at his king, who was normally so cheerful. The cat looked once to the North, then to the South, and then to the West. “No help can come from Korana across the sea. The wizards have forsaken us. There is no hope left in Certaria.”

Suddenly, a messenger came. “Lord! I bear tidings from Samuel’s company. They have turned South to search for Vi’lle and will reach here in two days!” For the first time since the reading of the prophecy, Jake smiled.

Samuel and his company reached Fernwood two days later, at mid-morning. The mouse bowed to Jake and walked in. Marigold rushed out to greet him, zooming across the stone-floored courtyard.

“Oh Samuel! Are you alright? Let me bring you to your rooms!” Samuel followed her into the castle. When Samuel was out of earshot, Morgan chuckled to Jake “Looks like our famous knight has a girlfriend.” Jake smiled, but then said more seriously “Could she be the girl that the prophecy spoke of?” Morgan nodded. “It could be. It could be.”

Samuel and Morgan sat in Jake’s room telling the Maow King all of the news that they had gathered. Jake was extremely interested in the Sandraiders’ armor. The mouse dug around in his pockets and took out the letter to Skardle that Greddez had given him. The cat looked it over, and gasped when he saw the signature at the bottom. He inspected a helmet and sword that Samuel had brought him, and was shocked again. Engraved on the armor and blade was a symbol, a skull surrounded by gears, with a lightning bolt through the center.

Below the symbol, was a series of strange runes. In Thazancian Runes, it read: Shadow Bastion. Jake and the other two stared at the name for a while. Jake’s face went pale. “That has always been a name of terror on the border of the old stories. If they truly were aided by that place, then we have good reason to fear that all evil fortresses are coming back to take revenge.” He took out his huge book again and flipped to the chapter on Shadow Bastion, page 4890. He read aloud:

“Shadow Bastion is one of the strongest fortresses of the North. Back at about a hundred and fifty years after the coming of the wizards to Certaria, Ra’vok sent a creature of great power to hold a great ruined fortress in the North. The creature, known only to us as Hydrocaus in the Thazancian tongue, started a great work of evil in the place. It was situated on and in a high range of peaks in the Northernmost mountains of Certaria, in Norsän-Ran.

The towers and ramparts on the mountainsides are most of the parts above ground. Most was mined into the mountains. Apparently the Thazancians enjoy the underground caverns of their fortresses more than the fresh air. It is not like other castles, filled with wooden machines or great works of stone. Hydrocaus had a mind for metal and gears. He had harnessed the power of lightning into something he called electricity. It made gears and machines move of their own accord, electric sorcery. That is our name for his art.

The electric sorcery of Hydrocaus has created an unholy thing, something that no one in history could have ever dreamed of. I feel that this project could bring about Ra’vok’s absolute power of warfare. All we know is from a small scrap of paper from a prisoner of Shadow Bastion. It read: FS, A. Even worse, Hydrocaus has a natural affinity for this kind of machinery. He is a Lûpisborg, a demon of the pits of Clarwell. Everyone should know what those things are. Please, do not meddle with Hydrocaus. It could very well be the last thing you do.” Jake finished reading the passage. “That’s all you need to know, boys. Oh, and first, let me tell you about Lûpisborgs. They are a creature made in the Underworld of old. It is a being that is half wolf, half machine. You’ll know it when you see it.” With that, he walked out of the room. Samuel and Morgan stared at each other.

“Why is that old fortress so important to the war? Hydrocaus must be long dead. I for one don’t believe this place ever existed.” said Morgan after a long pause. Samuel said he wasn’t sure, and flipped to the next page. There was a drawing taking up most of the paper.

Morgan looked at it for a while. Samuel noticed something at the bottom of the drawing. “Hey, Morg, look at this.”

The line read: This was drawn by Defteye, King of Fernwood, and verified by Sanvideir, Loremaster of Fernwood.

Samuel smiled. “This is Shadow Bastion, fortress of the great Acar Poltesra, Mountains of Mining.” The otter nodded. “Then, Sam, I guess that this Hydrocaus, from what I know of the wizard types, is still there.”

“Yes, Morgan. I feel that we’ll meet him, sometime, before this is over.”

The two walked quietly out of Jake’s room, closing the door behind them. As they strode down the hallway to the stairs, Morgan spoke. “Sam, can you just imagine what we’ve done? Three months ago, we were just two Fernwood Knights. Now, we’ve been through more battle and hardship than most of Greenbloom! And even at this moment, Certaria is counting on us to save the world!”

Samuel looked at Morgan with a sad smile. “No, Morgan, not us. I’m afraid it’s just me. I know in my heart that the final stand will be me, and me alone. I’m truly sorry.” Morgan was crestfallen. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Samuel felt a pang of guilt. What if he leaves the quest? thought the mouse. What if he abandons us because he feels he has no part to play?

At the same time, Alrack had run into a bit of a problem. The vermin army had been reenergized, but they still had a long way to go. Worse, the force of the liberated Cape Bucktooth had been doing everything possible to hinder their march. The beavers and pirates had fought some nasty skirmishes that always seemed to end with Alrack’s forces losing. That day, Alrack and Uldrich stalked through the camp with intent, talking quietly together.

“But Alrack, how are we going ta get around these ’ere beavers?”

“Simple. We keeps our full force ‘idden till they aren’t expectin’ us, then we swoops in an’ kills ’em all!”

“But they’re stronger! They’ll slaughter us!”

“No, they won’t. See, if they are thinkin’ that everything’s all right, they won’t ‘ave their weapons, defenses, or anythin’ really. We’ll wipe ’em out and move on.”

Two days later, the pirates moved on through the scorched ruins of the cape. Only the beavers who were veterans from the Karakssass affair escaped, including Jeb and Tradd. Alrack, due to his smarts and brutality, had left as the undisputed leader. They walked on into the heart of Greenbloom, knowing not that the secret of the Diamond Tablet was already discovered.

Later, Alrack called a halt. “Stop, ye idjits! We’ve got ourselves a wee bit o’ a problem here.” Blocking their path, about three thousand feet ahead, was a large lump. Upon closer observation, it was a barricade of wood and dried mud, with black banners draped over it. A head popped up over the barricade. It was an armored weasel. He called out over the plain. “Snachaia halethz? Drevinduuran halethz, heva jandel kornegha acka Ronahargtha!”

The black weasel looked back and yelled “What was that again? I can’t really unnerstand yer!” The weasel called back “I said, what is your business? Tell us it or we will take you as prisoners to Thazanc!” He looked back at the troops behind the barricade when Alrack didn’t answer. “Jandel acka ghendari ana Ronahargtha!” The Thazancians swarmed over, to be met with a shower of bullets. A few black-suited stoats tried to cock crossbows, but the arrows were no match for the guns of the pirates. Several on both sides drew swords, and the Thazancians charged. However, Alrack had organized the pirates into ranks, spears in front. The armored vermin ran straight into the long blades. Rifles appeared between the ranks of spears.

At Alrack’s shriek of “Fire at will!”, the pirates sent hails of small metal cylinders into the Thazancians. The vermin ran forward and cut the forces of Ra’vok to pieces. They jumped over the blockade, formed ranks, and moved on.

The gates of Fernwood closed again behind the backs of Samuel’s company. With new supplies and soldiers, they were moving on again to find Vi’lle. Jake turned and went back to his chamber. That night, an evil moved. A small dark figure ran from the kitchens to the gate, silently unbolting it. Two large creatures scuttled in. No one was aware of the evil yet.

Killstin, an experienced lizard, heard something strange while making his gatehouse rounds. It sounded like a strange, soft clicking. He woke his mouse friend Silderon, and they crept down to the gate. He looked out at the open sky, and realized that the gate was open. Killstin ran to the alarm bell. Suddenly, something dropped off of the ceiling above him. He saw, for a moment, a huge stinging tail. It lashed, and he felt more pain than he had ever felt in his life. Pincers moved forward, and in his last moments he knew he was being ripped apart, piece by piece. Silderon saw the creature swarm over Killstin. It moved away, and he saw Killstin’s horribly maimed and bloody carcass slowly melting into a small red-and-green puddle. He threw up.

The creature turned. It ran towards Silderon. The mouse quickly raised his sword as the creature came down upon him. The blade pierced its armor, going deep into its innards. Silderon jerked his blade out and rolled away as the beast fell. He turned sharply at a noise, and saw the other one running towards him. He drew his small knife and threw it at the swiftly running monster. The knife went through its mouth and out the back of its neck. It keeled over dead, sending a tremor through the ground as it landed on the hard earth and cobbles of the courtyard. Suddenly, he fell unconscious as a sword handle hit him on the back of the head. Three ferrets dressed in rags scampered into the castle, following the shadow figure. They snuck up into Jake’s room, knocking out guards as they went.

Jake woke to two large wads of cloth blinding and gagging him. He tried to move, and found his arms and legs tied. The ferrets carried him out of Fernwood and into a small wagon pulled by another of the armored beasts. They rode south, towards Deadbeast Bluff.

The next morning, news of the kidnapping was all over Fernwood. Thayder and Silderon took command, and sent several knights to study the two dead creatures. They appeared to be a strange sort of insect, except twenty times the size. They studied the armor closely. It was black and hard as rock, and it bore the mark of Shadow Bastion. The stinger was coated with a strange neon green liquid. It was put into several small jars, and was locked away by Bernie.

For the Knights, it was a new threat to face; a strange, poisonous creature that was doubly armored, for it had a thick carapace under the metal plates, and fast as well. The two dead creatures were examined for hours, then taken away to be burned. With Jake gone, the two captains were hard-pressed to keep chaos out of Fernwood. The reaction to the kidnapping was immediate and huge. The majority called for vengeance, but no one knew exactly where the creatures came from.

Samuel and the group had been traveling for about three days north. Aidan and Malcolm’s conditions had been slowly worsening, even with the Vrandeyl. Tarsch had told Samuel that if they did not find Vi’lle soon, Aidan and Malcolm would surely die. One day, the mouse and his company found something strange. The rags of the ferrets were floating in small pools of a liquid that Samuel did not want to identify.

They walked on, past the borders of the city of Oceanfront to the westernmost end of the Mountains of Death. Its vast peaks reared up beyond the plains, shooting high into the air for thousands of feet. The small group traveled up to the small hills on the borders of the mountain range, reaching the larger mountains by nightfall. Samuel and the part of the company who were going on camped on a small plateau on the slopes of Ecer Uigorond, while the rest turned back south. Samuel looked back in the direction of his home, traced the symbol of the Verdancers over his heart, and went to sleep in his small tent.

The camp looked large, but ridiculously small compared to the great majesty and darkness of the Mountain of Terror, Ecer Uigorond. That night, something of terror snuck down. It was a group of small creatures that scrabbled down the rock face like spiders. They were the Valakundir, small evil beasts that slew anyone on their mountain. The leader was a stoat that was the smallest and vilest of the lot. His name was Flärsang, guardian of the mountain, and he had come to kill all of the strange intruders. Did they not know that it was his place, and not theirs?

Samuel woke to a long blade at his throat. Staring down it was the face of Flärsang. “What is thy business, styling thyself as a traveler on my mountain? Didst thou not know that this was mine own? Speak, knave, or I shall killeth thee before thine own soldiers’ eyes!”

“Hold on there, chap. What in the world are you doing in my camp?”

“Silence! I am Lord of this here Mountain. I am Flärsang, commander of the Valakundir. Already they holdeth your forces prisoner. If thou do not pay homage to me, I shall slay thee in penance. Now, surrender thy camp, and thy weapons, and I shall let thee live, though it be’st more than thou deserveth. Now, speak thy piece.”

While Flärsang was speaking, Samuel had grabbed his sword. Now, he swung it at the stoat’s face. Flärsang’s jaw flew thirteen yards off the edge of the plateau, down into the darkness. The Valakundi leader gaped for a moment or two, then toppled over, dead. Samuel burst out of the tent, cutting down a couple of rats before rescuing Morgan, Tarsch, and Crackwillow from the Valakundir around their tents. After that, the four razed the small mountain guardians. The plateau blazed with the light of dozens of spells blasting Valakundir of the cliff in all directions.

Later, the quartet slumped down to rest again. The Valakundir who survived had fled in terror up the mountain or down the cliff.

The next morning, all the bodies had been cleared away, and the group continued on their search for the leader of the Verdancers.

Jake woke again. He was still riding in the cart. It was a day after the raid on Fernwood, and still nobeast was searching, for fear of the strange poisonous creatures. A small vermin band had gathered around the cart, and were chanting a bloodthirsty song.

“Ho ho, to work we go

Throw the cat in a dirty hole

Ho ho, to work we go

down to the dungeons, ho ho ho!

We’ll beat him with clubs

’till his head’s just a stub

Then we’ll give him a mighty blow

Ho ho ho!”

All the villains gathered about the cart and one drew a club. He whacked Jake over the head. He laughed weakly. “Is...that all you can do...babies?” He received another whack. The cat broke out suddenly and grabbed the club. He laid about his tormentors with a vengeance. “Ha!” Thwack! “Take that!” Thwack! “Here’s a gift!” Thwack! “You..evil...dirty...scum!” He yelled, punctuating each word with a sound blow to the nearest foe. Suddenly, two black robed figures drew wands and wrenched the ropes tight around him. He struggled, but was shoved back in the cart.

They continued riding southwards, the two Destromancers keeping a close watch on Jake. He tried one last trick. He ripped his bonds again, grabbed a stick of wood, and hurled it at the nearest Destromancer. He stepped back and yelled “Annathaya Kenatha!” A glowing shield sprang from the wand and deflected the wood easily. The ropes tightened again. He knew, in his good sense, that there was no hope of escape.

The pirates raced steadily northward. Alrack knew, from his sense of distance, that they were not even thirty miles from Fernwood. They had abandoned ranks and positions, and became a mad horde, driven by the thought of treasure. The three leaders were at the head, preparing to be the first to sight the ancient stone castle. They stopped in the middle of a small glade, large enough to fit Alrack’s force. Crowblood and Uldrich walked over to confer with the black weasel.

Crowblood showed his concerns about the fighting. “ Alrack, we don’t ‘ave enough trainin’ ta fight their knights. I knows fer a fact that they’ve got about three hunnerd in the garrison, all armed with rifles and swords. They’ve also got armor, ten times better than the stuff we got ’ere. So tell me, great leader, your plan.”

Alrack looked at him with a sly smile. “Oh, don’t worry. I knows just the thing that’ll make ’em lay down their arms and surrender ta us.”