Chapter 3

Willow returned to the classroom to take Tama home from school for the day. The rest of the children left for their homes with a happy cheer because of the unexpected vacation that Elder had just announced. He knew a number of the parents wouldn't be happy, but there was little that he could do about it now. Once he was in the building alone, he closed the school up and gathered his traveling gear. As arduous as he made the trip sound to Willow, it was actually be easy from the Faydark end.

Packing was easy; he always had his travel bag setup to go at a moments notice. He filled several water bottles from the town's main drinking fountain. He had found in the past he couldn't handle the water from Antonica. It made him ill if he drank more than a sip or two. On the way out, he stopped at the guard station top meet with the post captain.

"Have your men watch for Basier if he should return. Something about him just is not right. And let folks know not to use any totems they may have purchased from him."

"Yes Sir, I will ask my men to keep an eye out for him. Have a safe trip to Qeynos Elder," said the guard captain.

Elder pulled out a silver amulet with a copper and a rose garnet embossment of a stone ring on it. Holding the amulet to his chest, he willed it to function and vanished in a glowing sparkle of firefly lights.

A few seconds later, he flashed into existence halfway across the Faydark Valley at the Druid teleport ring. The stones stood between six to eight feet in height and formed a circle about 30 feet across with spaces between each, one gap being wide enough a small cart to drive thru. He staggered for a few seconds from the sudden change in his location then put away that amulet. He walked to the edge of the circle of stones and waited for the druid currently setting the gate to open it for travel.

The Controller called out in a very bored sounding voice, "The Antonica ring will be opening in five minutes. Please have all your gear, mounts, children, and pets ready to move into the port ring on my next call. Failure to move while the ring is open will result in a three hour wait until we reopen this destination."

Elder was ready to move on the call. "The Antonica portal is now open. Please quickly move to the ring center." A large green glowing sphere about seven feet in diameter appeared in the center of the ring. In the glowing sphere, he could see the ring on the other side of the portal so he knew it was clear for him to enter.

Elder was already moving as the operator started the call for the rest of the travelers to move to the portal opening. With a quick wave to the druid, he stepped through the portal and was instantly elsewhere. He came out in another stone ring; this one was about fifty feet across. He gave his surroundings a quick glance; the local woods were much lower and thinner than that of the Faydark forest. The breeze contained the smell of the nearby sea as well as the woods natural scents. He quickly moved out of the area so the other travelers could exit the ring.

Once clear of the stones he went to the human druid that was in charge of the ring. "Pardon me good sir, but will there happen to be a port to Qeynos anytime soon?"

"Not a chance Elven. The city is under martial law with the Great Houses fighting for control of the city and the young king."

"Oh that will not do at all. I am in a hurry to see the head of the Rangers guild in the city. What about the stables then, are there any fresh horses up for the run?"

"We have are several, you will need two remounts as well. That will run you fifty silver if you go that route and don't lose the horses and your life to the local bandits. With all the chaos and corruption going on in the city, they are thriving out here. The outer guards are the best that money can buy, and they are well and truly bought."

"No, I don't think so," said Elder, looking a bit annoyed with the operator's attitude.

"The only other option is walking then," said the druid with a nasty smirk.

As the caretaker was saying this, Elder pulled out another amulet and activated it. He vanished, surprising the man who expected any port spell to the city to bounce back to its point of origin. This did not seem to be the case with this Elven.

Elder used an amulet that would take him to the north gate of the city of Qeynos. It worked as expected then turned to ash in his hand. He dropped the waste and dusted off the remains. It had been the one shot variety of amulet, he knew he would have to obtain a replacement from the wizard's guild before he returned home. His appearance caused a stir at the gatehouse. A rather large and disreputable looking guard in tarnished loricated armor exited the tower, running towards Elder while yelling. "Hey you, you can't just go and port in like that. We could have put several bolts in you before you knew it."

Elder looked at the unruly human with a rather flat expression. "I have business with the ranger's guild; I will enter the city now, so please move aside."

"Not today you aren't. Riots going on all over the city and the Kings regent has ordered the gates to remain sealed until the matter is settled." the guard sneered in a manner that nobody used on Elder.

"I guess I did not make myself clear. I am entering the city due to urgent matters that must be brought to the Ranger Guilds leadership's attention. You have enough problems that you don't need an undeclared war with the Faydark." said Elder with just enough expression to cause fear in a student. The guard however, was not smart enough to be impressed.

"Old Elven, I am going to have to arrest you. Now come with me-," he started to say.

He stopped speaking as he could no longer take a breath as a very strong hand was now slowly crushing his throat. "Human, I am a direct representative of the Faydark Council. I will enter the city now, or they can scrape you off the stones. Decide wisely, my patience with you is at an end."

The guard waved franticly to the others as they were now closing in with crossbows drawn and loaded. With his free hand, Elder pulled out yet another amulet and held it up for the approaching guard captain to see. She looked at it and blanched.

"If you would be so kind as to release this oaf, I will escort you to the Guild headquarters myself sir," she said in a very polite manner.

Elder looked at her and smiled. "Thank you, Captain for the offer of an escort into the city." He released the grip and the slightly blue guard fell to his knees gasping for air. "Just entrance to the city is all I require."

"Very well sir. Please come this way if you would." She took him past the towers at the end of the bridge and onto the massive stone bridge itself.

The Bridge was a double arch support of stone and wood. Twenty men on horseback could ride side by side across it and not step on one another. At the center on each, there were stone pillars that held up massive set of chains that extended to the guard towers and attached to the roadbed, giving additional support to hold the stone roadbed up over the ocean fed moat.

Elder looked over the new defense towers at the end of the bridge, "I see somebody around here finally figured out the bridge needs a front line of defense. By the way, that guard is a disgrace. His armor is a tarnished and shows signs of rust and his blade unsharpened. If his appearance is a reflection of the state of the kingdom, you are in serious trouble."

"The towers were completed about five years ago sir. We are having gnoll issues you would not believe, and yes, the state of that guard is a reflection of the trouble we are having here. The men are reluctant to follow orders, most are lazy and nobody is fully in command of the city guard at this time."

"You have gnolls; we have Orcs and kobolds to deal with in the Fay. Nasty combination when they are not fighting each other for territory. Now what is happening in the city if you don't mind explaining to this old Elven as we have time while we walk to the cities entrance together?"

"I am sure you have been informed of the unrest. In the last few day's it has broken into complete civil war between the Regent families inside the city walls. The regents are fighting for control of the last son of the Bayle line. The child is only five and is not very bright. He is also a bleeder and not very strong, so many of the families feel a new blood line needs to take the throne to save Antonica from the Overlord, the Lich King Sir Lucan D'Lere of Freeport. If the Overlord ever decides to get fully organized, then we will be in trouble. Fortunately our spy's have informed us his palace intrigues make ours look like a picnic squabbles."

Elder nodded at this information. "Have the Scouts, Caster's or Clerics taken up arms for any one group other than the rightful King?" asked Elder. "And what of the Circle of Five, should they not be in control of the kingdom during a crisis of the Crown?"

Keeping her face set as neutral as possible so as not to reveal her personal feelings on the matter, "The Five are not allowed to act so long as the King lives. The guilds have a strict policy of neutrality, but individuals, mainly family members of the factions have joined sides, fortunately. Only the younger and less powerful members of the guilds have decided to be involved in the revolt. Privately, the guilds support the Boy King. Only the Guild charters prevent them from openly coming out in support of any one party."

Elder gave a mild snort of derision, "Never underestimate a novice in the magical arts. They can be more troublesome and do greater damage than a master of the school. They take chances no experienced person would take in order to achieve their goals. That seems to be part of the reason I am here today."

"Well, we are at the gate. Now allow me to escort you inside so there will be fewer interruptions or problems for you."

"If you would be so kind only if it will not be a problem for you good lady," replied Elder with a pleasant smile. "Must keep up appearances of friendship and all you know."

That evening, Willow and Axemen both agreed that Eaglesclaw needed to be called for quickly. At dinner, Tama sat quietly and concentrated for a few minutes on not wanting to being seen. She managed too completely fade from view for a few seconds, but when she attempted to move the effect dropped leaving her visible and very tired.

Her father had seen what she was attempting to do. "Tama Arrowmark, that was an incredibly rude thing to do at the dinner table. You don't do that during meals daughter," said Axemen.

"Yes Papa. I was just trying to see if I could still do it now that the bad totems are gone. I guess I still can, except I feel so tired now from trying."

"Well you finish your dinner, do your evening chores then get ready for bed," said Willow.

"Yes mama." Tama managed to not fall asleep while eating her dinner, but afterwards the exhaustion proved to be too much for her already over stressed body and mind to cope with any longer. As she fell asleep while moving her chair back to the table, Axemen saw her starting to fall and quickly caught her before she could hurt herself.

"I will put her in her bed Willow. It seems today's events were too much for her and just put her out."

"You do that husband, then you are coming back and helping me clean up for the night."

"Yes dear." Axemen knew he wasn't going to escape helping, so he put Tama to bed and returned to the main room to start the evening cleaning that Tama normally handled. He finished quickly then checked with Willow for anything else that might need taking care of.

Willow looked at him then realizing that they were effectively alone and had the house to themselves with Tama so completely out, for the first time in several years. Willow gave Axemen a smile and crooked her finger in the classic come here motion. She grabbed his hand and dragged him off to their room.

And that dear reader is all you need to know about that evening in the Arrowmark Home.

Once inside the gates, Elder quickly made his way to the Tunarian Scouts of Antonica Guild hall while managing to avoid several altercations between guards and rioters. Elder could see that the eastern part of the city was being reduced to ashes and ruins in the fights. When he arrived at his destination, the doorkeeper recognized Elder as a member from his amulet and escorted him to the council chambers. The inner door guard quickly escorted him to the Guild leader's chamber. When the guard knocked on the heavy wood and steel-banded door, a voice inside called for him to enter the chamber so he could explain the reason for the interruption. After a few seconds, he waved for Elder to enter as well. The Guild leader was a short thin man of about sixty human years with short graying hair. His eyes though where clear and shown with a light of great intelligence and life.

"So Elder; what has happened that we are being graced with your presence this day, you normally never leave that massive wood of yours without cause or need."

"Grendle, stop with the sarcasm. I came because of a man, by the name of William Basier is claiming to be a member of your guild and an experienced woodworker for the guild. He was attempting to sell SOW totems that will get somebody killed soon. His enchantment has none of the required safety limiters in it. A girl of eight years was able to activate one and it nearly killed her by slamming her into the wall. The only thing that saved her was her small size and strength and the small size of the room. She was unable to get up enough speed to do any serious harm to herself. The effect was a massive uncontrollable speed burst with no way to stop or turn once you started moving."

"Elder my friend, no disrespect was intended. So please, forgive my remark. As you can see, all the guilds in the city are currently distracted with the royal infighting. I know of no man by that name in the guild. He had the proper credentials you say?" Elder nodded in the affirmative. "That is not good. We did have a total hack of a woodworker a few years ago. He was expelled from the Rangers and the Woodworkers guilds. His skill while adequate for simple mundane items, were seriously lacking for any enchanted items. When he made a totem that was supposed to endow water breathing, it choked the user to death before a way was found to cancel the spell."

"It sounds like it could be the same man Grendle. He was making his way towards the Dwarven cities once he left the Faydark. If he makes it, the Dwarves will be less tolerant with him and his dangerous wares I think."

"How long will you be staying with us Elder?"

"No more than two days I should think."

"I will have a researcher see what can be found about this William Basier, the wood workers movements if we have anything about him on file. Once we know where he has been we might be able to figure out his starting point and purpose."

"That sounds like a good to me. Now, do you have a room I might use for the night? I have had a very long day and would like to rest a few hours if you don't mind."

"Certainly Elder, I know how hard traveling gets to be as we get older." Grendle clapped his hands and an assistant entered seconds later.

"Yes sir?" he asked.

"Take Elder to the guest wing and place him in the master room if you would."

"Yes sir." Looking squarely at Elder, "If you would follow me sir, I will escort you to your quarters."

Back in the Butcherblock Mountains, one William Basier's day had managed to go from bad, to worse. He had stayed on the road as the upper pass guards had warned him, but the locals didn't seem to care whether he did or not. A group of Kobolds had picked up his scent and they were intent on catching him. His horses were almost dead from the run and the monsters were gaining. Then the worst happened, one of the horses stumbled on a loose stone on the gravel-strewn road and went down, dragging the other with it. The wagon slammed forwards into them and rolled on its side, it continued rolling, crashing onto its back. Basier was violently thrown from the wagon and smacked his head on the rocks where he landed. This stunned him long enough that he was unable to get to cover before kobolds arrived. The first one saw him go down, leapt high and landed on his back, claws digging in, gashing open his back. This elicited a screams of pain from the downed man and a very brief struggle. The kobold reached down to Basiers neck with its claws fully extended and drove them through his spine, killing him almost instantly. Basiers last thought was about how much he hated his Dark Elf Queen.

Most of the other Kobolds in the hunting party gathered around the dead horse bodies and began tearing chunks out of them, bagging them to take back to their camp. Two of the Kobolds checked the overturned wagon for any usable items. One crate had broken open and several carvings had fallen out. They looked like wolves except that they were black with red stripes. One Kobold recognized the totem as one an Elven had used to escape an ambush very quickly. He picked one up howled in victory and tried to use it. The totem engaged and caused the luckless Kobold to do what humans call a George. He helplessly accelerated and smashed face first into a tree so hard it split the trunk open. The Kobold ended up a splattered mess over several yards around the tree's base, the bits of flesh continued quivering on the rocky soil, as if they were still trying to run. The rest of the Kobolds looked at the totems and refused to gather any of them. They may not be the brightest of the sentient beings, but they knew a bad deal when they saw it. They gathered the meat and fled the scene of the attack for home.

The wreck and body where discovered by a Dwarven patrol the next morning. One of the dwarves saw that the body had an amulet tied tightly with a silver wire around the neck so that it couldn't be removed without cutting the cord. He called his commander over and the group caster summoned to examine the device. After a moment of study, he reported it to be an illusion amulet. He carefully cut the wire that held it in place and the illusion faded away. Now, instead of a fair-skinned human, there was a dark skinned pointed eared Elven. No, the skin and eyes were wrong, a dark Elf.

"The Queen of Neriak is up to her tricks again. We need to report this to the Elven council and to Kaladim command now," said the group leader. Pointing to a runner, "Head back to base and report the findings. We will head up to the Elven watch station and hand all this over to the Elven as he seems to have come from the Faydark."

The group's caster told the rest of the patrol not to handle the wolf totems. The spell on them was wrong in a manner he didn't understand. He told the guards to use a set of tongs to handle each carving. The patrol gathered all the spilled totems and placed them in the opened crate, sealed them up for travel. By midmorning they had the mess cleared and where on their way to the upper Elven watch post.

Before Elder could even reach his room he would spend the night in, a runner came to him with a note from the archives. There was no record in either guild of a William Basier. Once in his room, Elder sat down and meditated for several minutes. The situation with the city was not his concern, but he felt that he was about to be drawn into a conflict that had nothing to do with him. The lethal totems were his only concern as far as this visit went. That the records didn't show a William Basier was even more disturbing.

This indicated he could be an agent from Freeport looking to destabilize relations between men and Elven kind. Yet even that theory did not quite ring true in his mind. No, this was deeper, more insidious from a darker source. The Dark Queen of Neriak might order such a scheme. But to what purpose or profit would it serve other than to sow fear and chaos he did not know.

As he thought about all the different possibilities, he slowly drifted off into a light sleep and dreamt unpleasant dreams of black and red striped totems in dark purplish, skinned hands.

The morning after Elder had left for Antonica, a young herbalist had gone out collecting roots, leafs, and berries for his employer, the Afterhours Potion Emporium in Kelethin. He left a note to his wife that he would be most of the morning at the cliff base where many of the items he needed to harvest could be located. Things started out smoothly enough for him. The gathering was going well and he had almost all he needed by midmorning. Then things went wrong near an outcropping of rocks away from the road. He heard a low snarling growl from within the pile and saw glowing green eyes staring out at him. Rather than run he slowly backed away from the wolf den, that he had gotten too close to. He reached slowly into his bag, never letting his eyes off those in the pile of stone and wood. By touch, he found the item he was seeking.

He carefully pulled out the black and red striped wolf totem he had purchased several days earlier from a traveling human merchant. He knew if he could reach the cliff base quickly enough, he could scramble up and away from the wolf. He turned while invoking the power and stepped out towards the distant cliff wall. He suddenly found himself accelerating out of control with no way to turn and was unable to slow down. His impact on the cliff wall was so powerful it triggered a small rockslide. The rockslide was duly noted by the guard station that looked out for just such events, and it was reported to the local command. A group of guards went to ensure that the roads where still clear of any rock falls. The only sign they found of the herbalist was a messy blood splattering over a small section of cliff base and ground. Parts of his pack identified him as Turminfar of the cities second level, employed at Afterhours Potions Emporium. The Black totem found in the remains, was added to the evidence of the event.

It was two days later that the warnings about the deadly totems started to arrive in Kelethin. More fatalities were being reported from other parts of the Faydark Valley, and there was no way to tell how many of the deadly totems had been sold or given away by Basier before he had fled to the Butcherblock Mountains and his doom.

Tama woke up a little later than was her normal. When she moved to get out of bed, she stopped as every muscle and joint in her body cried out in agony. Willow heard her cry and quickly rushed to her daughter's room and went in.

"What's wrong Tama? Why are you crying?"

"I hurt mama, I hurt all over, I can hardly move. Make the hurt stop mama, make the hurting stop."

"Oh my dear Tama, this must be what Elder meant by serious side effects from the Totem. It will last several days. Now, you need to get up and make yourself move around, otherwise you will stiffen even further and it will take longer to heal."

"Ok mama, I will get up now, I must learn to work through pain while I'm safe. I must fight the pain and go forwards"

Tama slowly rolled herself to the edge of her bed then worked up into an upright sitting position. Tama began a slow stretching of her arms and back. She gradually worked her way down and twisted at her waist to get her back to loosen up a bit. Every move hurt and made her want to cry out. How could this be so bad from just a second of the power from that wolf totem. She worked her hips and legs and soon was loose enough to stand.

The act of walking hurt even worse. Her knees both had liquid fire pouring into them and her hips did not want to support her weight. The muscles all felt limp and tired, as if she had just run the hill all the way to the top and back down, twice. Her arms were sore, not to the same degree as her legs though. Those totems are dangerously bad she thought. If they did this to me in such a short space of time, what would happen with a longer run.

There was a quiet knocking at the front door so Willow went to see who it could be at such an early hour. It was Whittles, patiently standing outside hoping somebody was up. Willow invited her in. "How is Tama this morning. The master had heard about what had happened and is worried that she may be badly hurt from the effects of that killer totem."

That caused both Willow and Axeman to stop and look at her. "Killer?" asked Axeman.

"Yes, as of dawn there have been three local confirmed deaths that are directly attributed to those totems." Glancing at Tama, "you are lucky to be alive at all little girl. It may be your small size and lesser strength that saved you from splashing all over the classroom wall. Now, how are you feeling this morning?"

Tama decided that the truth was the better route rather than what she had planned to say. "I hurt all over right now. Especially my legs, they are very sore, tired and weak."

"That is settled then." Said Whittles. "By order of Master Greenheart, Tama is to remain home until fully recovered from the events of yesterday. No appeals will be accepted in this case. Rest child, you need it to recover from the damage it did to you."

Tama looked at Whittles in disbelief. "You're kidding right. Please tell me you're not serious."

"Hey kiddo, don't blame me, I'm just the messenger. If you are not up to full strength and control, you have no business being in the wood shop. It is for your own safety Tama."

Tama looked at her mother with the look all children get when being denied what it is they want most. She started to tear up. Willow picked her up and rocked her gently.

Axeman told Whittles, "Thank you for stopping by and giving her this bad news. I agree though, she needs to rest and recover from her ordeal."

"I will let the master know how she is feeling. Take care Axeman." Whittles turned and headed back to town and to her work at the wood workers shop.

After a troubled nights sleep, Elder awoke and found that he had received several messages from the portal network. He was being recalled at the earliest possible time to Kelethin concerning the black wolf totems. He quickly wrote a note with his regrets to guild master Grendle and headed to the Mages tower to obtain a new set of transport amulets.

Once that piece of business was completed, he headed to the cities south gate and exited the city from there. He was stopped and questioned twice by the city guard as to what his business in the city was, but showing them the identifier amulet put an end to any trouble they may have wanted to cause him. From the gate it would be a half hour walk to the Griffon transport tower. He was never liked this mode of travel, but this was the only way fast enough to get to the Ulteran Spires to get him home in a day. The Griffons are tamed and well trained but he was never sure if it would be a truly safe way to cross a large continent every day.

The Griffon flight master instructed him on the best way to sit. "Once I have you strapped in, lean forwards and stay low. This will reduce the stress on Goldie and prevent your neck from breaking in half during the flight. Once up she will go straight to the Oracle Tower Station, and no amount of steers from you will turn her. The only flight alteration allowed is if you must land early. Just tell her or her sisters to land and they will land fast, no questions asked. Once down, release the tie down straps, and slide over the left side in order to dismount. Get clear of her wings and yell clear to her and she will continue to the destination. Get all that old timer?"

Elder looked at the Griffon Trainer and nodded, not wanting to say what he was thinking about the Trainer. "I must be on my way, how long until Goldie as you called her, will be ready to fly."

"I'd give her about, oh I'd say 20 minutes. She's still preening her main flight feathers, and you do not interrupt a preening if you want to keep the hand."

"Good enough." said Elder.

In slightly less than the estimated 20 minutes, Goldie finished her preening, looked at her trainer and gave a squawk that seemed to say, "Ok, let's get this over with."

With the Trainers help, Elder mounted the Griffons heavy leather saddle and was strapped in. After making sure the saddle and all the tack where secured, the Trainer gave a shrill whistle, then swatted Goldie on the rear quarter. The Griffon gave an Eagles scream and leapt into the air, opening her massive wings and shot upward into the sky. Her heavily muscled lion body swayed smoothly up and down with each flap of her massive wings.

As she lifted into the air, the first heavy flapping of her wings drove the breath from Elders body and he hung on for dear life. She circled around toward Coldwind point and over the lighthouse, found the thermal she was looking for and started gaining altitude at a rapid rate. As she turned to stay in the upward current of warm air, her flapping settled down and the flight smoothed out. The thermal lift lasted about fifteen minutes then Goldie turned out and headed north along the water line and city walls. She flapped her wings to maintain altitude every minute or so, otherwise it was a fairly smooth glide with the breeze at her tail.