The Elder Gods (The Dreamers 1)

“It’s a bug!”

“So it would seem,” Longbow replied tensely.

Another of the tiny enemies pushed back its hood to reveal a pale human face, and it spoke at some length with the insect. A third enemy joined them, and that one had a flickering, forked tongue and scaley skin. The last one had a furry face and long, sharp teeth, and it wasn’t much bigger than a dog.

“What kind of army is that?” Keselo demanded in a hoarse whisper. “Bugs, snakes, animals, and people all mixed together and talking to each other?”

“Evidently some of the old stories had more truth to them than I’d been ready to believe,” Longbow mused. “The only ones I’ve encountered here in Zelana’s Domain have been the ones Sorgan calls snake-men. It would appear that the Vlagh has more than one variety of servants. I always thought that the people who told me about different creatures of the Wasteland were just making things up for the fun of it. It seems that I might have been wrong. This promises to be a very interesting war.”

More and more of the hooded creatures emerged from the shadows behind the ruins until the entire village was crawling with them.

“I think you were right, Keselo,” Rabbit said sombrely. “Those things almost have to be coming out of a cave back at the rear of that place. There isn’t room enough for that many of them in those ruins. Hadn’t we better get back up to the head of the ravine to warn Sorgan and Narasan?”

“In a minute,” Longbow replied, studying the ruin and the surrounding slope. “It has some possibilities,” he said thoughtfully.

“What has?”

“We know that the enemies are here in the ravine, and we know that they’re concealed in these imitation towns. We could attack them before they attack us and keep them penned up in the ruins long enough for our friends’ armies to get past these ruins—either down in the ravine or up along the rims. Sorgan and Narasan will have to abandon their fort and pull back. If they stay where they are, they’re doomed.”

3

They carefully climbed back down to the north bench, and then they ran back up to the gap. Keselo and Rabbit were gasping for breath when they reached the Trogite fort at sunset, but Longbow wasn’t even breathing hard. Ham-Hand was standing near the back of the fort. “Where have you three been?” he demanded. “I’ve been looking all over for you. The cap’n wants to see you.”

“Where is he?” Longbow asked.

“Up topside,” Ham-Hand replied, gesturing toward the fort. “Lady Zelana’s brother stopped by, and he wants to talk to you.”

“That might make things a bit easier,” Rabbit said. “We just saw some things that might be a little hard to explain. Which one of Zelana’s brothers is here?”

“The younger one. You’d better get on up there, Rabbit. The cap’n ain’t none too happy with you right now.”

“I think we just saw something that’ll make him even unhappier,” Rabbit said as he followed Longbow and Keselo up toward the fort.

Hook-Beak was standing up at the front of the Trogite fort with Narasan and Zelana’s brother Veltan.

“Where have you been, Rabbit?” Sorgan demanded.

“Keselo and I saw something that looked a bit peculiar on our way up the ravine, Cap’n,” Rabbit explained. “We told Longbow about it, and he wanted to see for himself. We took him back to where we’d seen it, and we all went up the side of the ravine to have a closer look. I don’t think you’re going to like this one little bit, Cap’n.”

“What did you see, Keselo?” Commander Narasan asked.

“There’s an enemy army behind us, sir,” Keselo replied. “It appears that the ones who’ve been charging up the stairs are just a ruse to get our attention. The main enemy force is already behind us.”

“What are you talking about, Keselo?” Sorgan demanded. “We didn’t see a single snake-man on our way up here.”

“Ah—may I, Captain?” Zelana’s brother Veltan stepped in. “Just what led you to this conclusion, Keselo?”

“When the enemy attacked this morning, Longbow noticed something peculiar,” Keselo explained. “It seemed that more than half of the enemy force just vanished when they reached the foot of the stairway. It didn’t make any sense at all, and then I remembered something Red-Beard told me a few days ago. He said that there are some fairly extensive caves in these mountains. Longbow, Rabbit, and I put a few things together, and we came up with an answer that none of us liked very much. It appears that the stairway’s nothing but a hoax. A fair number of our enemies were charging up the stairway, but most of them went someplace else when they reached the bottom of the stairs. They had to be going someplace, and the notion of caves seemed to answer the question.”

“Where do those caves go?” Sorgan demanded.

“I was just getting to that, Captain. When we were coming up the ravine, Rabbit and I had seen several very ancient ruins high up on the side of the gorge. Red-Beard told me that the men of Lattash avoid those ruins because of some very old superstitions—which might even have some basis in fact. Anyway, to cut this short, Longbow, Rabbit, and I went a couple miles back down the ravine to the nearest of those ruins. Normally we wouldn’t have known where it was, but Red-Beard had told me that there was an old dead snag sticking out from the rim, and that the village was right below the snag.”

Veltan suddenly burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Narasan asked him.

“Every time I turn around, that snag seems to come popping up,” Veltan replied. “When Dahlaine and I were trying to pinpoint the location of this ravine, he mentioned that snag. Evidently, his thunderbolt was what had killed it quite a long time ago, and that irritated Zelana to no end. Sorry, Keselo. Go on with your story.”

“Well, anyway,” Keselo continued, “we hid in some tall grass near the ruin, and it wasn’t very long before our enemies began to come creeping out of the shadows. I’d say that the bulk of the enemy force is behind us already, and they’ve rather effectively cut us off. We’re trapped up here, and if we try to go back down the ravine to Lattash, I’m fairly certain that the enemy forces hidden in those ancient ruins will attack us just about every step of the way.”

Hook-Beak started to swear. “We should have known about those caves, Narasan. We spent a lot of time in Lady Zelana’s cave down in Lattash while we were waiting for the spring flood. If there are caves under one hill, there are bound to be caves under others as well. I think we’ve been had. The enemy was there all the time, but he just laid low and let us charge up that ravine until we got all the way up here, and now he’s slammed the door behind us.”