The next day the group startedout early. Just after dawn. They were laden down with a large assortment ofbaskets and bowls made of marsh grass, a goodly amount of carved items and two hundredpounds of Marsh elm wood. For all of that they had traded various knives,clothes, several gallons of ale and an assortment of tools and some coins. The same way the marsh hadslowly crept on them so it stealthily crept away. The water and mud underneaththe causeway gradually gave way to dry, firm ground. Eventually the causewaydropped to ground level and continued for a while as a wooden plank road. Thenthe planks gave way to a gravel road that was scarcely wider than the causewayhad been. Soon signs of civilization returned. Fields of ripening wheat andcorn, orchards and farms appeared to either side of the road. Their group passed a farmwagon laden high with marsh grass. The farmer seemed more interested in hiswagon and horse than the odd fellow travelers. ******************** The first confrontationoccurred where the trail they were on crossed the main road in the form of six cavalrymenstanding in their path. The men were wearing armor and carrying swords andstopping everything moving along the road. The leader deliberately stoodon the path of the heavily armed party and raised his hand, palm facingoutward. "Halt in the name of Lord Donel." "You have to admire theircourage," Terrie said calmly. "And total lack of commonsense," Edmund added. “I thought Donel would havedone something before now. Certainly, something more impressive,” Stealthcommented. “We caught him off guard,”Edmund responded. “He expected us to go west or take the main road directly. Hemost likely has small patrols like this scattered all over.” “You are not allowed any farther,”The leader said nervously. “Not allowed any fartherwhere?” Edmund commented. “North? South? East?” Doubt crossed the leaders face.“You’re not allowed any farther.” “No doubt you have alreadydispatched a rider to tell Donel we are here,” Edmund said calmly. “You havedone your duty. So stand aside before someone gets hurt needlessly.” Thirty ofthe soldiers with Edmund and Terry deployed in a straight line behind theirleader. It showed the small group from Midtown was outnumbered five to one. “Now,” the paladin saidcalmly. “Leave before things get unpleasant.” Sir Edmund Delacot turned tothe soldiers behind him. People who had served with him for years. “Lock step.MARCH!” The group of Protectorsstepped forward in one, smooth motion. Each person moving in a synchronized movement.All acting in unison. It was impressive display of training and skill. It had the desired effect. Theleader took one look at the slowly advancing group and shook his head. “Followme.” And with those words he wheeled his horse around and the group gallopedaway. ***************** The group that left CastleThrush was considerably smaller than the one that had arrived. Tenknightbrothers. Fifty Lay swords and the same two wandering brothers escortedKnightmaster Harrick and brother Kenward. There was no subtlety or tacticalmaneuvering. All were heavily armed and they would travel northeast straight toKelewair using the main roads. It was a display of force that was sure toattract attention. But that was the idea. To show the Midlands that the Orderof Protectors was still around and would brook no further bloodshed. ***************** The sky slowly darkened butalthough the black clouds threatened to unleash a storm. People buttoned upcoats and jackets and put away all things they didn't want to get wet. But norain fell. Instead it grew darker until the land was bathed in a frighteningtwilight of neither day nor night. The trees grew closer to theroad as the road itself grew narrower and went from a well-maintained stoneroad to a rutted dirt path. "This can't be the rightroad," Terrie commented quietly to Edmund. "We didn't take any turnoffs or side paths," Edmund responded. The woman pointed to thedarkened path in front of them. "Does this look like the road toKormley?" Suddenly a tall mound rose upto the left of the path as a similar one stood sentry to the right. Their regular,smooth, grass covered sides told of its unnatural creation. The artificial hillsrose over a hundred feet tall and each was topped by a black pillar. Theirtall, black masses seemed to glower down at the living intruders. Angry at theintrusion into their realm. With a slight touch of thereins Edmund brought his horse to a halt. The entire group followed suit. At the base of each mound,within arm’s reach of the path were two pillars that flanked the road. Each wasof black wood and completely covered with a wide variety of symbols Some werejust words but Edmund recognized several magic wards and symbols. At the top ofeach was a starburst painted gold with a silver lightning bolt placedhorizontally below it. Almost reflexively the paladinreached for the hilt of his sword with one hand and clutched the cross thathung from a cord around his neck with the other. He spoke a quick prayer. "Where are we?"Someone asked. "Seven Barrows!" Emileresponded in a pained tone. "SEVEN BARROWS? Weshouldn't be there!" Someone muttered. "Yes we should!"Edmund snapped. "This is a place of thedead," came the nervous answer from the Lay brother. "The dead resthere," the paladin responded calmly. His speech and demeanor hiding hisown unrest. "We have no fear from them." "This isn't a place forthe living," Emile said. "It belongs to the dead." "Perhaps," Terrant countered."But we're not here to loot. As long as we show respect we won't have anyproblems." The man didn't speak but thelook on his face was filled with doubt. "I am a paladin of theorder," Edmund commented. "It is my task to deal with the dead andundead." “I’d rather not deal withundead at all,” someone joked humorlessly. “It’s not exactly my idea of afun day,” Terrant responded. “But it is part of being of the order.” Edmund nodded in agreement. “Thedead rest here. I sense nothing that can endanger us.” “History rests heavily in thisplace,” Terrant commented. “A lot of good men died here. The memory of thatbattle has seeped into the ground. That is what you feel.” Edmund pointed to the carvingon the pillar to his left. “That’s the emblem of the 71st legion.This is where they made their stand back in 150.” There was touch of awe andreverence in his voice. “Too late,” Terrant commented.“If they had arrived two days earlier they might have been able to hold thewall. Stopped the entire invasion.” “Or simply died two daysearlier,” Edmund responded. Stealth nodded in agreement.“Nothing could stop the invasion.” He pointed to several symbols carved aboveand below Suielman emblem. “Is that Lutin?” He asked. “It is!” Edmund answered. “TheLutins were so impressed by the legionnaires bravery and skill that afterdefeating them they built this monument to honor them.” Stealth scowled. “First they killedthem. Then they honored them?” “It wasn’t all done for honoralone,” the paladin commented. “It was partly meant to placate the spirits ofall those legionnaires they had just killed.” “That makes sense,” Stealthresponded. The normal sounds of the foreststarted to fade. The cry of a night bird, the flutter of bats nearby huntinginsects. The trees rattling in the wind. All faded to silence as the wind diedas well. People stopped talking. Afraid of breaking the silence. Of drawingattention to themselves. The air grew colder till Edmund could see his breathas small clouds with each exhalation. The sound of slowly marchingfeet came to him. A thousand feet tramping in unison. There was the blare oftrumpets but like the feet they were faint, as if coming from a great distance.The horns and marching grew steadily louder. Not slowly but quickly as if thoseapproaching were moving at a fast pace. As if in a hurry. As the sounds got closerStealth picked up the slow, steady BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Of drums marking cadence.Soon he could hear voices, talking, shouting orders. Then came the jangle ofmetal armor and harness, the clop of horse’s hooves and the shuffle of feet. “KEEP MOVING! KEEP MOVING!” avoice ordered from the darkness. “They need us.” Edmund whipped around to histroops. “Get off the road,” he ordered. “Now!” There was a frantic scrambleas the living made way for the dead. Edmund’s people stood in orderly lines oneither side. They heard the sounds of anarmy on the move but the road remained empty. Their ears told them somethingwas there that their eyes denied. Suddenly there were shoutedorders to halt. “We’re too late! We’re too late. They’ve broken through.” Camethe ghostly voices. “CLOSE RANKS! CLOSE RANKS!” Avoice shouted. “Remember you are legionnaires!” There was shouting, the sound ofpeople moving, weapons being drawn. Horns blared. Orders shouted. Those werethe sounds Stealth recognized. It was solders preparing for battle. He looked to his own people.Some were looking around nervously and quite a few had out their crosses andmany were in prayer. One archer had out both a Follower cross and a Predecessorstar as well. “Be calm,” Edmund Delacot thepaladin said calmly. “They cannot harm us. They do not even know we are here.” The sounds of combat filledthe air around them. The ring of metal on metal, the crack of wood being split.The crunch of bones shattering and flesh being torn. The shrieks and moans ofthe dying. The sounds of battle were allaround them but still they saw nothing. It grew louder and louder till theycovered their ears to try and block it out. Then suddenly it stopped andthere was nothing but silence. Only the faint whisper of the wind. Hisbreathing seemed loud and he could clearly feel his own heartbeat racing. A voice suddenly spoke fromthe darkness. It was oddly calm. “This is a good place to die.” ****************** No one spoke or moved for atime. Slowly the forest came back to life. The chirping of birds, the rustlingof field mice moving amidst the leaves and undergrowth. The sky lightened asdaylight returned bathing everyone in its golden glow. It grew noticeablywarmer. “What?” A woman archer asked. Her voice boomedloudly and everyone jumped in surprise. All eyes turned to the woman who had alook of nervousness and confusion on her face. “What just happened?” Shefinished in a quieter tone. “I’ve never heard of anythinglike this happening before,” Emile said nervously. Stealth and his squad werestanding together. “Why are these weird things happening when you and Edmundare around?” Mairsil asked. “I don’t know,” Stealthanswered. “Yet.” “It is something of greatimportance,” Edmund said solemnly. “Cheer up,” Mairsil commentedtrying to sound humorous and failing. “At least you didn’t experience it firsthand.Like the last time.” “Nest will be upset that hemissed it,” Stealth commented. “He’ll want to know every detail of whathappened.” Delyte laughed. “If he is sointerested in this stuff why doesn’t he come down here himself.” “He will,” Dasan commented.“People like him can’t stay away from things like this.” “Whatever happened is done. Atleast for today,” Stealth commented. “Nothing will disturb us for tonight.” Edmund ignored the discussion.His attention was drawn away from group and to the pillar. His eyes fell on theemblem of the legion but they didn’t linger there. Instead they moved past it. There,looming in the distance was another mound. It was taller and wider than theothers and it towered over everything. “Terry,” the paladin said in avoice that sounded calmer than he actually was, “Please stay here with thetroop. I want to scout ahead.” “Scouting is my task,” Stealthwalked up to his friend. The scout was carrying a bow in hand and was dressedin armor. Edmund turned and looked atthe tall, center mound. His common sense said to turn back and leave but hissoul, his heart told him to press onward. “We’ll do it together.” The two climbed up the steepsloped side of the hill in silence. The only sound was of their breathing andthe soft padding of the grass under their paws. It grew colder the higher theyclimbed. Looking down, he could see the six mounds that encircled the centerone. The top of the mound was flatand paved with stones laid out in intricate patterns. Six columns circled theedge and in the center of the hill was a tall monolith of black wood. It wastaller and wider than the others. Carved into the middle of it was a starburstpainted gold with a silver lightning bolt placed horizontally below it. He notedthat the emblem was everywhere, carved onto every pillar and column. It waseven laid out in stones on the ground at their feet no less than seven times. “Seven mounds, seven columnsand seven symbols on the ground,” Stealth commented. “Seven is a magical number,”Edmund responded as he looked down at the fields below. “It has lots ofmystical significance. It’s also how many cohorts the 71st fieldedthat day.” “ED!” Stealth snarled andpointed to the center. A figure drifted out of shadowof the center pillar and walked towards them. The person moved with the slowdeliberate pace of a person in calm control. He was wearing chainmail armor ofa type and style used for centuries. But the helmet tucked under his right armwas old empire and he wore a long red cape of a style that had vanished in CR150 when the empire had died. His black hair was cut short. His face was calmbut the eyes were piercing and looked them over. A gladius; a short sword hungin a leather scabbard from his belt. The new arrival held up hisright hand, palm out using an old Suielman greeting. Edmund returned the gesture.“Hail Sir.” Stealth placed his right handonto his left shoulder and bowed slightly. Giving the correct response. “Hailand greetings to you sir.” “Our apologies for disturbingyou,” Edmund explained. “We seem to have taken the wrong road.” “You are where you aresupposed to be,” The stranger responded enigmatically. Edmund leaned closer to the newarrival and peered intently at him. “Kaeso?” He asked hesitantly. “KaesoFerentia?” The officer smiled but didn’tspeak. Instead slowly drew his sword and held it up in front of his face insalute. He lowered the sword and then slowly faded from view. Vanishing like apuff of smoke in a strong wind. *****************
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