found himself looking back up into his own face. After a moment of making sure that the orm looked in the directions he wanted it to look, he turned back to Rai.
“That's why back in the old days, before the College was formed, and Loremen were just people who stumbled into this strange ability to mimic the abilities of your average middling wizard, no matter what energies were in ebb or flow in the area; the real wizards took to calling them charlatans.”
Rai took only a handful of seconds to staring at him as he jostled the orm on his arm, testing the strength of command before bursting into laughter. “Gods above! You mean Ru was right?”
Rather than rise to the bait, Kaiel instead concentrated on the orm. “Technically. But the term hasn't been dusted off in anywhere but the most isolated backwaters in centuries. It's as much of an antique as he i—“ He stopped and turned an eye toward Brin, hoping she hadn't heard that.
He really wished Taylin would just take the time to explain the situation to the elven woman, but she hadn't and it wouldn't be right for him to.
Even if she might have cared about his slip, Rai continued to laugh uproariously, temporarily transformed into the image traditionally held in cities where few halflings were in evidence, that they were all mirthful and mischievous. It made him feel better for a bit, seeing her in good spirits, even at his expense. They all needed those moments, especially if the endgame was to have them pitted against one of the most prominent demons of the Threefold Moon.
A great thud sounded behind them, heralding Taylin's return. There wasn't a second thud; Ru didn't touch the ground if he didn't have to.
“Why are you all here? I thought you were continuing on to Idarian.” Taylin looked on edge and it showed in the fact that she'd offered no greeting. “And why is the army stopped? There's still a few hours of light left.”
Kaiel rose, as did Rai. Their lightness dissolved as they were forced to return to the matter at hand. “You should take a second look for yourself.”
Together, the group gained the top of the hill, where Brin was holding her vigil. Below was a wide river valley, thick with verdant splendor up and down the floodplain. The Nya Rynthian river formed a broad slash that flowed west and south from the craggy and broken mountains far to the east in Taunaun.
Brin's gaze was fixed on the eastern side of the valley where a swathe of the plain was cut off by a stand of trees too dense and too broad to be natural. A rough, dirt road wound out of a split in that grove, where a fortified, wooden gate once spanned from one tree's thick bole to another. Only now, that gate was battered flat from the outside, the magically grown wall of wood was slowly dying, and in places, boughs had broken off, revealing glimpses of similarly atrophied farmland and village buildings.
The blight was no more natural than the wall was, but the more immediate problem stood directly ahead of the party, to the southwest. There, the army assembled to avenge King Solgrum was spread out and beginning to put up camp for the night, partially in the shadow of an ancient bridge tower.
The tower itself had seen far better days. It was riddled with moss and slime from proximity to the damp. Some stones had tumbled down despite still-active magic in place to maintain its integrity. Even in that shape, however, it should have withstood many more years, barring outside interference.
Outside interference had found it, however. Just mere yards beyond the arch in the tower meant to allow passage onto the bridge, the bridge ended in a blackened mess of scorched, melted and splintered stone. A powerful magical attack had blasted the bridge apart, and that breech had started a cascading failure of the magic holding the span up over the river. The entire thing had collapsed into the swift waters of the Nya Rynthian.
“Looks like that monster destroyed the bridge after him to stop
“That's why back in the old days, before the College was formed, and Loremen were just people who stumbled into this strange ability to mimic the abilities of your average middling wizard, no matter what energies were in ebb or flow in the area; the real wizards took to calling them charlatans.”
Rai took only a handful of seconds to staring at him as he jostled the orm on his arm, testing the strength of command before bursting into laughter. “Gods above! You mean Ru was right?”
Rather than rise to the bait, Kaiel instead concentrated on the orm. “Technically. But the term hasn't been dusted off in anywhere but the most isolated backwaters in centuries. It's as much of an antique as he i—“ He stopped and turned an eye toward Brin, hoping she hadn't heard that.
He really wished Taylin would just take the time to explain the situation to the elven woman, but she hadn't and it wouldn't be right for him to.
Even if she might have cared about his slip, Rai continued to laugh uproariously, temporarily transformed into the image traditionally held in cities where few halflings were in evidence, that they were all mirthful and mischievous. It made him feel better for a bit, seeing her in good spirits, even at his expense. They all needed those moments, especially if the endgame was to have them pitted against one of the most prominent demons of the Threefold Moon.
A great thud sounded behind them, heralding Taylin's return. There wasn't a second thud; Ru didn't touch the ground if he didn't have to.
“Why are you all here? I thought you were continuing on to Idarian.” Taylin looked on edge and it showed in the fact that she'd offered no greeting. “And why is the army stopped? There's still a few hours of light left.”
Kaiel rose, as did Rai. Their lightness dissolved as they were forced to return to the matter at hand. “You should take a second look for yourself.”
Together, the group gained the top of the hill, where Brin was holding her vigil. Below was a wide river valley, thick with verdant splendor up and down the floodplain. The Nya Rynthian river formed a broad slash that flowed west and south from the craggy and broken mountains far to the east in Taunaun.
Brin's gaze was fixed on the eastern side of the valley where a swathe of the plain was cut off by a stand of trees too dense and too broad to be natural. A rough, dirt road wound out of a split in that grove, where a fortified, wooden gate once spanned from one tree's thick bole to another. Only now, that gate was battered flat from the outside, the magically grown wall of wood was slowly dying, and in places, boughs had broken off, revealing glimpses of similarly atrophied farmland and village buildings.
The blight was no more natural than the wall was, but the more immediate problem stood directly ahead of the party, to the southwest. There, the army assembled to avenge King Solgrum was spread out and beginning to put up camp for the night, partially in the shadow of an ancient bridge tower.
The tower itself had seen far better days. It was riddled with moss and slime from proximity to the damp. Some stones had tumbled down despite still-active magic in place to maintain its integrity. Even in that shape, however, it should have withstood many more years, barring outside interference.
Outside interference had found it, however. Just mere yards beyond the arch in the tower meant to allow passage onto the bridge, the bridge ended in a blackened mess of scorched, melted and splintered stone. A powerful magical attack had blasted the bridge apart, and that breech had started a cascading failure of the magic holding the span up over the river. The entire thing had collapsed into the swift waters of the Nya Rynthian.
“Looks like that monster destroyed the bridge after him to stop
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