NIGHTSEED 11
by heck@heckster.co.uk
CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Three days passed without event, and the companions were thankful but 
remained alert.
  The rolling heather covered hills of the heathland was a day and a half behind 
them, now, and they traversed a featureless, barren plain. The monotony was 
broken only by a few stunted spinifex bushes.
  The parched and cracked ground beneath their feet was baked as hard as stone by 
the searing daytime sun and ceaseless desiccating wind. During daylight hours, 
the temperatures soared to a point where Brenhya could no longer bear to wear 
hear stiff, heavy leather pauldron, and sat on Maakar clad only in her soft leather 
halter and short shirt, while the two males removed their shirts and rode bare 
chested.
  Brannagh's barrel-chested torso was covered with coarse, black hair, almost a 
fur, while Lon's narrow ribcage and spindly arms, white as if they had never been 
exposed to the sun, were in stark contrast to the robust, tanned bodies of his 
friends.
  In the farthest distance, just at the limits of vision, they could just discern the 
brooding out line of the citadel, silhouetted against the setting sun. At night, it 
became so cold that their breath condensed into clouds of mist, and they had to 
huddle together for warmth, despite their campfires, and heedless of psychic 
attacks.
  At a stage in their prehistory, before they had developed into the familiar, 
belligerent people they had become, the ancestral species that evolved into the 
dwarf had been a shy primate, often prey to other, larger, carnivorous creatures. 
As a result of this early development, four of the five basic senses were 
heightened in the dwarvish people. They had a tendency toward short-sightedness, 
because distance vision in the confines of the underground caverns in which they 
had evolved was not a priority, but their senses of touch, smell, taste, and hearing 
were unrivalled by that of any human or other related species.
  They rode at a walk across the plain, Brenhya and Lon chatting casually as the 
horses picked their way over the stony ground. A little way ahead, Brannagh was 
dozing on his pony, when suddenly he jerked awake, all senses alert. He held up a 
stubby arm.
  "Stops!", he called. "Shuts up and listens!"
  They brought their horses to a halt and listened, straining hard to hear whatever it 
was that the dwarf had heard.
  "There's nothing ....", Lon began.
  "Shh! Opens yer ears".
  At first, they could hear nothing. But soon, at the very limit of her range, 
Brenhya thought she could hear something; something like a distant rumble of 
thunder. She described it to the dwarf.
  "Yus", he confirmed. "'At's it. Hooveses. Lots on 'em".
  Brenhya stood in her stirrups, scanning the plain from her nine-foot vantage 
point. At the very edges of sight, in the very farthest distance, she thought she 
could see a dust cloud. Black, and low to the ground, it seemed, yet it spanned 
from horizon to horizon, on all sides. She cast around for an escape route, but 
found none. The line of dust was unbroken. And now, as it came nearer and the 
thunderous noise became louder, she could make out the shapes of men on 
horseback.         Devilish men, in horned helmets and black cloaks that flapped in 
the wind, riding fiery black, nightmare steeds that struck sparks from the ground 
with their every hoofbeat.
  The woman turned to the young wizard. "Is it another illusion?"
  Wide-eyed with fear, Lon's gaze flew this way and that as he took in the 
enormity of the army that bore down upon them. "I can't tell", he admitted. "Best 
assume not, ay?"  
  The dwarf unshipped his axe and brandished it over his head. "Looks like we's 
goin' outs in a blazes o' glory!"
  "Or be trampled underfoot". This from Lon in a querulous voice. "Can we outrun 
them?"
  "Wheres to? They's all 'rounds"
  Eyes darting wildly, Lon's gaze fell upon a narrow depression several hundred 
yards away, leading down into a gorge. He spurred his horse toward it. "This way! 
Come on!"
  "Lon!", Brenhya yelled. "Wait! You don't know what's in there!"
  Unhearing, or unheeding, Lon kicked his mount to greater efforts. Brannagh 
looked up at the tall woman. "Whats now?"
  She raised her arms and let them fall to her sides in a resigned gesture. "Follow 
him, I suppose. I don't see any choice". 
  At the touch of her heels, Maakar sprang forward and galloped after their 
terrified friend. At Brannagh's urging, Thraxx rushed to follow, teacup-sized 
hooves rattling across the plain. Inside the defile, they caught up with Lon and 
entered the deep gorge together.
  A few yards in, a side channel led off at a right angle. Brenhya led them in and, 
after a few dozen yards, called a halt. "Stand still, and listen", she instructed.
  Immediately, the sounds of pursuit faded. The wind whistling across the rim of 
the gorge was the only audible activity. Lon let out his held breath.
  "Phew! It was an illusion, after all".
  "Seems like it", Brenhya agreed. "They should have been in the defile by now, at 
least. We would be able to hear them. Brannagh?"
  The dwarf cocked his hypersensitive ears. "Nope", he announced. "Nothing 
there".
  "Great. This way out". Lon urged Opal forward.
  "No. Nots that ways. This ways".
  "No, this is the way we came in. Come on!"
  "You is wrong. Us comes in this ways".
  Lon made an exasperated gesture. "Brenhya, you have the best sense of 
direction. Which way?"
  The warrior was uncharacteristically puzzled. "It can't be too difficult. We 
entered the gorge and turned right. All we have to do is go back the way we came, 
and turn left". She came to a decision. "This way".
  They followed her trustingly, and turned left at the point that should have 
brought them back on to the plain. A high wall faced them where there should 
have been an escape route. Brenhya was unfazed. "We seem to have gotten turned 
around. Let's go back and out the other way".
  But the other way turned out to be another blind end. "What is this?" Lon wanted 
to know. "We can't have gotten lost so quickly. All we have to do is go back they 
way we came. That can't be hard, can it?"
  "Hmph!" Brannagh was not impressed. "'At's OK. If'n us knows which ways us 
comes in".
  "Well, standing around here isn't going to get us anywhere", Brenhya pointed 
out. "Come on".
  The sides of the gorge, which was now a tangled labyrinth, were vertical and 
sheer, and slightly overhanging in places. They were so polished by the wind, it 
was difficult to believe they were a natural rock formation. Brenhya subjected 
every square inch of them to minute scrutiny. The tiniest irregularity would have 
been sufficient for her steely fingers to find a hold, but the surfaces were almost 
glassy in their smoothness. At one stage, she tried carving toeholds in the rock 
with Brannagh's axe, but the granite was so hard that she risked permanent 
damage to the blade. The dwarf told her to go ahead; if it broke, it broke. But it 
soon became obvious that she would ruin the axe head cutting just one niche, and 
would still be unable to climb out.
  For hours, they wandered through the maze, following a path only to find that, 
rather inevitably, it led to yet another dead end. Time and again, they retraced 
their steps, and over time became more and more lost, and more and more 
frustrated, with every twist and turn.

  Night was falling over the plain. The small creatures that eked a meagre living 
from the sparse environment returned to their hiding places to wait out the cold 
night. The few nocturnal animals that could endure the subzero temperatures of 
darkness emerged tentatively to begin their night's foraging.
  Under the pale moonlight, the daemon pressed forward, driven by the need to 
reach its goal. Its matte black scales were almost invisible in the dark, and had any 
eyes alighted upon it, it would have been discernible only as a moving patch of 
even darker dark.
  Near the entrance to the labyrinth, it stopped, muzzle raised to sniff the night air. 
There was prey nearby, down there, in that gorge. It turned toward it, and took 
half a step to investigate.
  But the urge to reach it's objective, to continue on its long journey, was too 
strong The Dragonkind turned its face away, and returned to the path that was 
designated for it.

  "Twine!"
  Brenhya reined in her mare and turned in the saddle to look back at Lon. She was 
tired and deeply frustrated by their failure to find a way out. "What?"
  "Twine. If we fasten some twine to something, and pay it out as we go, we can 
retrace it back to where we started". He looked at her expectantly. "Good idea?"
  "Brilliant". Heavy sarcasm was in her voice. "That'd work. If we knew where we 
started from".
  "Or if us had we any twines", Brannagh added.
  "Well, at least it was an idea. Which is more than's come from you two in the 
last five hours".
  "Tha's 'cos we's gots more senses than to speaks up afore us 'as summat worth 
listnin' to", Brannagh barked. "Bloody young oik".
  "All right, people. Calm down", Brenhya said with a sigh. "The last thing we 
want is to start squabbling amongst ourselves. And Lon is right". She watched a 
smug expression cross his features. "Partly". The expression faded. "We haven't 
come up with any ideas for ages. Let's put our minds to work, and see what we 
can come up with".
  "It's too cold to think", Lon grumbled, wrapping his travelling cloak more 
tightly about him. 
  Brenhya was paying no attention to him. The germ of an idea was forming in her 
quick brain. "When we were out on the plain, we couldn't see this labyrinth, could 
we?". The other two nodded agreement. "Well? What does that suggest to you".
  Brannagh and Lon looked at each other, and shrugged uncomprehendingly. "Us 
doesn't knows".
  "Ach! Think!" Brenhya's fatigue was ruffling her usually serene disposition. She 
explained as if speaking to a pair of children. "We couldn't see it. That means the 
tops of these walls are on the same level or slightly lower than the land around. If 
one of us could get up on top, he could see the way to the exit, and guide us out".
  The two males spoke in unison.
  "But us can't finds any ways to climbs up". "What do you mean, 'he' could 
see?"
  Brenhya smiled. "Listen, we know there's no way to climb up. But I could give 
one of you a boost".
  "Boosts? What kinds o' boosts?"
  "Brenhya, the walls are about twenty feet high. How can you boost us that 
high?"
  "Well, not so much a 'boost', exactly...."
  "You have a plan", Lon accused. "Brannagh, she has a plan".
  "Yus. An' I 'spects us ain't gonna likes it".
  Brenhya made calming gestures with her hands. "Don't worry. It isn't 
dangerous. Well, not very. I'll just toss one of you up there".
  "Jus' tosses? Jus' tosses! Wha', d'yer thinks us is dafts, or sump'n? Thinks us is 
gonna lets yer toss one o' we into a granite walls?"
  "Yeah", Lon endorsed. "We don't fancy getting our faces smeared across the 
rock".
  "Well, not one of you. You see, you both weigh about the same. Lon is a bit 
heavier, I suppose. But he has these long, gangly arms and legs to get in the way 
...."
  "Yus. An' tha' leaves muggins, 'ere, I s'poses? Well, yer c'n thinks agin!" 
Brannagh folded his short arms and turned away from her.
  More confident, now that he was not under any threat, Lon laid a hand on the 
dwarf's shoulder. "What's the matter, Brannagh? Don't you think she's strong 
enough?".
  "'O course 'er is. 'An that's what worries I. S'pose she's aim's off, an' 'er 
throws I inter the walls? Wi' she's strenff, er's like to kills I. Or worse, 'er'd 
chuck I rights over th' tops an' inter th' next canyons. If'n th' fall doesn't kills I, 
us'd be sep'rated. Then there'd be's two lotses lost".
  "She can do it. You can do it?" Brenhya nodded confidently. "Think about it, 
Brannagh. It makes sense. And, remember, if Brenhya says she can do it ..."
  The dwarf let out a resigned sigh. "...'er c'n do's it. I knows. All rights". Beard 
bristling angrily, he looked up into the woman's smiling face. "But yer makes 
sure yer doesn't misses, mind".
  Knowing that keeping silent and letting them work it out between them would 
have the desired effect, Brenhya nodded solemnly. "I promise. You won't feel a 
thing".
  "An' yer makes sure yer doesn't overdoes it, an' chucks I right overs, too!"
  "I'll try to make certain", she agreed, sliding from Maakar's broad back. "But 
let's catch a few hours sleep. I don't want to try it in the dark".
  "Tha's th' bes' noos I's heared all night".
  Foregoing a fire, the three bedded down huddled together for warmth. As a 
warrior, Brenhya had cultivated the ability to sleep anywhere, anytime, and was 
asleep almost instantly. Lon was not long in following her example, but the dwarf 
slept only fitfully, his mind dwelling on the coming ordeal.
  Dawn was slow to illuminate the deep gorge, and the sun was well up in the sky 
before it's light reached the depths. Brenhya was up long before the others, and 
threw herself into her morning exercises, concentrating on stretching and 
flexibility routines. When they woke up, the two males sat and watched.
  As usual, both were impressed by her muscularity. The full-bellied roundness of 
the powerful muscles in her arms and legs gave her perfect shape and symmetry, 
and as she went through her bending and stretching they were once again amazed 
by her flexibility and athleticism. Eventually, she finished her workout with a 
scintillating series of flick-flacks that covered the ground as fast as a man could 
run. At the end, she sprang high into the air, performing a double somersault with 
gymnastic skill that belied her height and length of limb.
  She strolled over to where the others sat. "Ready, Brannagh?"
  "'S I'll evers be". He climbed to his feet, removing the travelling cloak in which 
he had slept. "I mus' be dafts, 'greein' to this".
  "Come on, Brannagh", Lon encouraged. "You're going to be a hero".
  "Never crosses yer thick 'eads tha' I doesn't wants t' be no heroes", the dwarf 
muttered under his breath. "C'mon, then, Missy. Le's get it overs with".
  The woman looked up at the wall, judging distances, forces, and angles. It was 
close to twenty feet high, she reckoned, so if she stood just here, and let go of him 
at this height, and at that angle, he should clear the top without going too high.
  Long legs spread quite widely, she laid hold of the dwarf, holding him by the 
collar and his wide studded belt. He felt his feet leave the ground as she picked up 
his eighty-five pounds without effort, and up to now, he felt safe and secure. It 
wasn't this part that worried him.
  "How's that?", Brenhya asked. "Not too tight about your neck?"
  Dwarves' necks were thick and bullish, so the few seconds of pressure would be 
no problem for him. "'S fine. Gets on wi' it".
  She started to swing him back and forth like a pendulum, slowly increasing the 
arc. Lon could not help but admire the play of her arms and shoulders, as the great 
muscles rolled under her skin as she worked. Higher and higher he swung, until he 
was above her shoulder height at the top of his arc.
  Timing her release as accurately as she could, she gave a mighty heave as her 
dwarven missile reached the top of the swing. He sailed up and forward, 
describing a perfect curve through the air. Despite the fact that he was prepared 
for it, he could not prevent his stubby limbs flailing and a strangled scream 
escaping as her flew through the air.
  "Aaaaagh!"
  Brenhya and Lon watched as the dwarf flew up to the top of the wall and passed 
over the lip at the zenith of his flight. Then he disappeared from their sight as the 
rim obscured him from their view. They stood and waited for him to make an 
appearance.
  Lon had seen his tall woman friend perform many astounding feats of strength, 
in the few years he had known her. He had thought that he was beyond being 
shocked by the sheer intensity of her physical power. But he had just witnessed 
her heave an eighty-five pound weight up on top of a twenty foot rock wall, and 
found the experience almost as astonishing as the first time he realised her great 
strength.
  Seconds passed. Then a full minute. Lon paced to the opposite wall.
  "That's it!" He announced. "You overdid it! He's lying in a broken heap on the 
other side!"
  "Don't be so dramatic, Lon", Brenhya scolded. "Just wait a bit".
  On cue, a small head appeared over the rim, and a hand waved down to them.
  "'S all rights!", Brannagh's voice called to them. "'T works OK. I's 'ere!"
  "There you are", Brenhya said to Lon, and then called up to the dwarf. "That 
wasn't too bad, was it?"
  "Nope. But if yer ever tries anythin' likes it agin, I's choppin' yer legs off a' th' 
knees!"
  "Deal!", she laughed. "But what can you see?"
  He stood up and scanned the horizon on all sides. "I's seein' th' wossname, city 
dell thingies. 'An I thinks I's seein' th' ways out. 'S still a wossname, mazy, up 
'ere, but I thinks I sees it. This ways".
  He set off at a trot along the top of the wall. Below, his companions followed on 
their horses. Leading the tiny pony, Lon just followed Brenhya, but the warrior 
woman's eyes never left the small figure above. There were a few wrong turns, 
and it still took more than two hours, but eventually, almost skipping along the 
wall top, Brannagh led them to the exit. Having lost a full day from thier journey, 
they found themselves back on the plain at the very same point at which them had 
entered the labyrinth.

  On a pallet in the corner of the anteroom, Amillie slept, recovering from her 
exertions in creating the massive illusion she had achieved.
  Drumming his fingers impatiently on the arm of his high backed throne-like 
chair, V'Daa watched her sleep, tutting occasionally as he waited for her to wake.
  At last, he could wait no longer. Stretching out a foot, he nudged her sharply 
with his toe. She started awake, a fleeting look of annoyance flashing in her eyes.
  "Ah! You're awake!" The madman smiled pleasantly. "Feeling better?"
  "A little. What's wrong?"
  "Nothing. Nothing at all. But, seeing as you're awake..." He indicated the table, 
where her scrying bowl sat.
  Amillie looked at the bowl, and at her Master, and a momentary flicker of 
rebellion stirred in her breast before her sense of self-preservation reasserted 
itself. She went to the table and made her passes over the bowl, forcing her half-
awake mind to concentrate on the swirling patterns.
  "Lord, I have good news and bad news".
  "Let me have the bad news first".
  "They have found a way out of the labyrinth".
  "What? Nobody finds their way out of there! Are you sure?"
  "Certain, Lord".
  "Blast! Well, I suppose I better have the good news".
  "The Dragonkind has passed them. It will arrive first. In a matter of hours".
  "Excellent!", V'Daa exclaimed with a wolfish grin. "It will feed well. Very well, 
indeed!"

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