“South up there is the passage leading to the smithy. Northare slave pens or prison cells with bugbear guards. And there is”-shehesitated-“a trail of blood, fresh and old both, that goes between the northpassage and the torture chamber.”
“There are prisoners that way,” Nemis said softly. “Nohumans, no elves-orcs and trolls. I pity them, but I will not risk my life tofree them.”
Vlandar nodded. “Even Mal agrees we dare not try to helpthem. Most of them would not thank us and might even try to kill us to win favor from Nosnra.”
“Let us go before any other guards come out of thatbarracks,” Malowan said. “There are more bugbears in the farther rooms-behindclosed doors, fortunately for us. But they are not the only enemy that might come through here.”
Vlandar nodded and took up the lead, the rest following as they had before, but this time Rowan moved sideways so she could both watch where she walked and keep an eye on their back trail.
Once inside the southwest passage and out of the light from the torture chamber, Vlandar halted again and beckoned Malowan up with him. The two exchanged a few brief signs. Lhors could follow some of it, including “search,” and “caution,” but some of it must have been personal sign between thetwo. Vlandar held the rest of the company back with him while Malowan and Agya stole quietly forward, stopping at the barely visible bend in the hallway. They were back almost at once.
“It is very loud in there, so no one will hear us,” Malowanwhispered softly. “There are dwarves in there. The ones I could see are chained,but there were others that I could sense but not see.”
Vlandar frowned at the opposite wall. “Some are prisoners,but some might not be. Some of them might be allies of the giants, especially if they are not all from the same tribe. You could not tell, Mal?”
“I would have to get closer to use such a spell.”
“Hmmm.” Vlandar considered this briefly. “Some are prisonersat least. How many giants?”
“Two,” Agya whispered. Lhors thought her eyes seemed huge.Whatever was in that room had scared her, it seemed. “And they’rebigger’n those rotters up above and blacker’n a cook pot.”
“Fire giants,” the paladin said evenly. “We will need to hitthem hard and fast.”
“I know,” Vlandar replied tiredly. “No Mal, I’m not arguing.I’m of your mind. A warrior who won’t help the broken and downtrodden is nothingbut a thug with free room and board from his king. I just-”
“Consider this,” Malowan broke in. “The guard-change off thatbig chamber happened just as we came out. Have you ever known a lair where guard-changes were not all done at the same time? So the guard on that rockslide likely just changed also.”
“You’d trust to that?” Maera demanded.
“No,” Malowan said, “I call it likely. But stay ready for theunlikely all the same. It is likely that any dwarves imprisoned down here are not used only in the smithy. Once the fires here are banked, they would be put to work elsewhere. If that is so, at least some of them will know their way around down here. Freed, they could be strong allies.”
“Damn you for a logical man anyway,” Vlandar said with afaint smile. “I wish I could find fault in your argument, but I can’t.” Hetapped Nemis on the shoulder.
The mage, who had been keeping an eye on the corridor, turned and asked acerbically, “Can we leave this place before we are discovereddithering out here?”
“At once,” the paladin assured him. “One question. Do youhave a spell to make a wall of silence across the entry to the smithy, should we need one?”
Nemis shrugged. “I memorized a number of them, knowing wewould need them.”
“As soon as we’re ready,” said Vlandar, “put it up so thatthe noise doesn’t travel.”
Agya started and shivered as the distant roar of a great ape suddenly echoed down passage.
“Yes, we are getting away from that,” Vlandar assured her.
“Aye. To go after brutes in a room wi’ more swords’n I cancount. You’re certain on this?” she demanded of the paladin.
“Certain I must try,” he said with an unapologetic shrug.
“Get yourself killed yet,” she said tiredly, “but if you’reon, so’m I.”
Khlened licked his lips. “I’ve fought with dwarves before.They’re not all so bad, though it’s a job o’ work to make ’em divide treasureup.”
Maera stirred, but Rowan gave her an urgent and complex sign. Maera cast her eyes up and shrugged when Vlandar glanced at her, clearly awaiting her response.
“It wouldn’t be my choice,” she said brusquely, “but I’ve nosay. Go on.”
“Thank you,” Malowan replied simply. He led the way down-halland then down the angled passage toward firelight and an increasingly loud din of hammers and harsh voices that sang a guttural song to match the rhythm of the hammer strikes.
Vlandar eased to the fore, stopping just short of the ruddy light, and waited for Nemis to create his wall of silence. The mage knelt and drew a square of red cloth from his pack. The man was grinning, Lhors realized in astonishment. His black eyes glittered as he got back to his feet and moved up next to Vlandar. The warrior eyed him curiously, then shrugged and moved to the other side of the hallway so he could see more of the chamber. He beckoned for Lhors to join him.
The smithy was an odd-shaped room, almost a corridor that ended abruptly. One branch seemed to go around a corner north, the other east. Storage, perhaps. Lhors could see two dwarves, bound with enormous chains around their throats and one wrist, carrying pikes and swords in the direction of a-
No wonder Agya looked scared, Lhors thought. The brute he could see was much taller than the hill giants he had seen, and his skin was a glistening black. He wore only thick hide pants and a buckler that held a hammer so huge that even he must need two hands to use it. The only other giant in view, his skin also a deep black that seemed almost blue in the firelight, was the smith. Slightly shorter but much more muscular than his companion, he wore pants, a leather apron, and a close-fitting cap.
Malowan said there were only two, Lhors reminded himself. The paladin had ways of knowing these things. Only two. Vlandar seemed aware of his thoughts, or maybe his fear was showing on his face, because the warrior gripped his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. Lhors managed a smile in reply, then turned back to study what he could see of the chamber.
The hammer wielder waited just at the edge of sight while his two captive dwarves trudged out of sight along the southern wall. They returned empty handed some moments later. As they passed the giant, he reached down and yanked at the loose chain snaking across the floor, then burst into harsh laughter as the two fell.
The smith turned and snarled something at him. He had to bellow to be heard above the racket of hammers. Five other dwarves were chained at anvils, two working bellows while two others beat spear blades. A fifth sorted through a pile of spears, separating heads from broken shafts and apparently choosing which weapons were capable of being mended and which would need to be melted down and reforged.
Vlandar eased back a pace and cautiously pointed out to his young companion the several piles of weaponry between them and the forge. There were stacks of pikes and spears, another pile of shields and warhammers, a double handful of maces leaning against a wobbly-looking metal rack. Lhors nodded his understanding. Don’t trip on anything.
Across the hallway, the rest of the company was eyeing the room and the obstacle course. Malowan gestured an assent. Better if they don’tknow we’re here until we want them to, Lhors thought. He wasn’t sure he wantedthose two giants to know he was anywhere about, but when Vlandar stealthily eased his sword free and raised a hand, Lhors drew a boar-spear and nodded. He eased back to his usual place with the rangers while Malowan moved back into shadow to draw his blades. Khlened came forward to join him. Agya, to Lhors’surprise, also came back to join the rangers-either Malowan had convinced her orsight of those two monsters had. A thief whose best weapons were knives had no business in there. Nemis eased over to a place between Vlandar and the paladin.