I knew that I would not be able to eat, and I also knew it was futile to be able to sleep. Instead I just sat in my perch in the tree which I had found myself. It was a perfect place to watch the entire clearing. I was about twenty feet up in an oak tree, sitting comfortably in a spot where three branches formed a sort of cup. With my cloak removed and placed in the cup, it made a rather comfortable chair. I don't know how the Hammerites were doing, the scouts around the clearing below or the ones back at the camp, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw it again, the lodge, the horror and the savageness of it.

I brushed the idea out of my mind once more, and tried to refocus on other things. Where had this Lady gone? She could not have fled to the city. She would be too easy to track there. I knew she was no fool. The original scout party had found the house vacant. Foolishly, we had all assumed that they were simply hiding in the basement, or out for the day. I should have realized something was amis when I read the memo, which told me that the place was vacant. But no, from that point till now, I had been preoccupied with the fact that they had captured Lytha, whom at this point was either alive and at home, or dead, along with her would be rescuer. Then there was Jyre, who had started this, tipped me off to this foul beast of a person. I wondered where she was, and if Els had succeeded in rescuing her as well. I hated being cut off from the world for so long. I was used to knowing about things when they happened, or at least within several hours of when they happened. I wondered if Jyre and I would ever cross paths again. I suspected that we would, for one reason or another. Hopefully it would not lead to something like this again.

There was still the possibility that this was just a false alarm as well. Perhaps this Lady wasn't who James and I feared she was. Perhaps she was just an over ambitious pagan with delusions of god-hood. Then I remembered how the lodge had transformed from wood and stone, to flesh and bone, and I decided that there was no doubt. In my mind that we were correct.

My contemplation was cut short by movement in the clearing. Not movement exactly, but hints and suggestions of movement. I looked down, scanned the massive star-shaped pit where the lodge had once stood, and saw nothing. I'm not even sure if I had actually seen something before, or heard it. It was more like I sensed something. There was someone down there, and I could not see them. I made sure to appear as if I had not noticed. If there was someone down there, then they knew where I was, and where the scouts were.

I saw a shadow move. Then there was stillness again. There was no sound associated with it. There were not many things to hide behind. Other then the lip of the pit, or the stump in the center, and this movement had not been near either of those. Satisfied that I had deduced what it was, (the very same thing I had seen earlier) I resettled myself in my chair.

What I saw next I found more unsettling then not seeing the intruder. I saw him, for a split second. He was looking at the large stump. Something about it had made such a profound impact on him, that he let his concealment drop for long enough for me to see that there was something there. I waited for a moment, and then several, and then many, and saw no more trace of the man. Deciding that he had gone, and it was my turn to investigate the stump, I dropped from my perch, and made my way into the pit, and to the stump.

The stump stood about 13 feet into the air, which meant that it would have protruded three feet about ground level. The first seven feet of it was a mass of roots, spiraling downward and outward. I climbed onto the roots, to the place where I saw the figure. I was not quite sure what to make of it, but I saw a stream of metal running down the site of the stump, with singe marks around it. It was cool to the touch. I didn't have time to speculate, I was too busy examining it. Its source was a small hole placed well above eye level. I could not see it well from where I stood. I found myself a set of handhold and footholds, mostly made from the clefts of Hammerite axes, and began to climb up the stump for a better look. I was almost there when one of my handholds gave way, and I was stumbled slightly for a second before righting myself. I'm not sure what inspired me to look at the chunk of wood in my hand, but I am glad I did. On the inside of the piece, the part which had been inside the tree, was The Eye, the symbol of the trickster. Suddenly loosing interest in the hole, I slowly climbed back down, looking at the glyph which had been embedded in the tree trunk.

I turned it over in my hand several times. It did not seem to have any magical presence to it, not anymore anyway. I looked back at the stump, and the stream of once molten metal spanning the height of the trunk.

Suddenly a wild idea came to me, and I explored it without thinking properly first. I touched the eye to the metal. It's a good thing I wear gloves, because the thing burst into flames, and the metal become once again molten! Fire suddenly shot out from the stream, and spread over the stump. I shielded myself with my arm, and backed away quickly. The fire lasted only a scant few seconds, but what it had done, was done. Where the stream of metal had once been, there was now a large crack in the stump, large enough for me to squeeze through. But why would I want to squeeze through? Because I saw, through the crack, torch light within.

I glanced about to see if any of the scouts had noticed. Surprisingly, they hadn't, which made me seriously question their competence. I quickly went back to my spot in the tree, outside the clearing, and grabbed my cloak. I was back to the crack in a flash, and peering inside. A torch was still lit, so whoever was in there couldn't have left too long ago. I squeezed my way in, and found myself in a medium sized nondescript room.

The air was stale, and filled with dust, and the smell of decay. The walls were of earth, meshed with roots. One torch was stuck in the wall, providing light. I saw three stairways leading up, but where blocked by the roots of the stump. I stopped for a moment to figure out the exact layout of the place. The room was directly under the stump. The fact that the ceiling was made up of the base of the tree gave that away. The tree must have been killed by the construction, for the tap root had clearly been removed to make way for this room. There was no furniture of any sort, nor any signs or recent habitation, save the lit torch. I took the torch from where it was wedged into a root, and used it to dispel the shadows which occupied the far side. This revealed a long, steep walkway, leading downwards. I set the torch back on the wall, and made my way into the dark deep path. It did not take long for my eyes to adjust to the total darkness, and I began to be able to see well enough. It continued down and out at a steady constant rate.

I had been traveling for many minutes, when I noted that in the far distance ahead, a soft red glow. I cautiously proceeded, my ears straining for any sign of other life. By the time I was about halfway to the source of the light, I noticed that it was a great deal hotter down this far. I could also clearly make out an archway, up ahead, and a sharp turn into what looked to be a larger chamber, which was illuminated by this red light. I continued towards it, my speed increasing.

I came to the archway which lead into the chamber. The tunnel twisted into it, ahead, so I was able to stand there, concealed, and just listen. I hear nothing, save a distant sort of rumbling noise. It was now every hot here, and the light was pure red. Slowly, carefully, I peeked out.

It was a large natural cavern. The floor had been ground until it was flat, the same as the passageway I had come down, but the ceiling was clearly tunneled out by the flow of lava. The room was vast, tremendous, but it was severed. A rift spanned the room, dividing it into two equal halves. I walked out into the room, to get a better look. It was not easy to see by the red light. There was a bridge, which had once reached across the rift, but had been destroyed. The ridge and the smooth floor where the only signs of civilization here. All was still, all was silent, except for, again, the distant rumbling. I walked away from the wall, confident that I was not being watched. I examined the walls for any other passages or crevices, and saw none. The walls were natural, unblemished by anything handmade. I slowly made my way to the rift, and looked downwards.

The rift was the source of the red light, or rather, the river of lava which flowed quickly below. The liquid rock was rushing very quickly, which caused the deep rumble. There was another sound which I was not sure I could identify. It was part of the rumble, but different somehow. The question was answered when I dropped a pebble into the rift, and sure enough, it was swept away by the very strong air current.

I then averted my attention to the bridge. I had seen before that it was destroyed, but what I noticed from up close set off a world of understanding. The bridge had been destroyed recently, very recently in fact. There was a sharp color difference between where the stones had crumbled, and where they had been ripped apart. I was unsure how it was done, for there were no signs of any makes used by tools. Perhaps the bridge was simply overloaded, and caved in. At any rate, what had happened was clear. The Lady, and he forces, fled to this underground complex, and destroyed the bridge behind them. I case my view across the rift to the over side of the chamber, and sure enough, there was a very large vaulted passageway leading into the darkness.

By now I had a rough plan formulated. The Hammers job was done. There was nothing they could do here. It would take far too long for them to rebuild the bridge, what with the passageway down to here only being wide enough to let the men travel through single file. No, it was up to me. I needed to get to my tower to gear up.

***

I moved in darkness. In absolute darkness. And then I heard them again. Voices. And a light went on, and off, and on. Flickering. I saw faces in the darkness, in the short intervals of light. Faces of Hammerites. Grotesque faces of dead people. Thalia. The face of the Inquisitor. The pain. They moved towards me, pointing with their hands at me. Or claws. With their eyes motionlessly wide open.

I tried to back away and stumbled into someone or something. I turned, and saw into the face of the man from the prison from the opposite cell who had - He grinned, and reached out to get me -

I screamed.

And found me upright sitting in a bed.

Someone sat beside me and had grabbed me at the upper arms. "Hey hey hey... Lytha. Calm down. It was a nightmare," it said.

"What? Where -" I said. Shaking.

"A nightmare. You are in my house. No Hammers or monsters here. You've screamed loud enough so that the neighbors have probably woken up." Ghost offered me a glass of water. "Here. Drink. I've mixed something of the healing potion in it. That should chase away the nightmares."

I drank, and fell asleep again after a few minutes. This time I had no more nightmares.

***

"Brother Thurm!" I shouted, as I entered camp. He emerged quickly from his tent. I approached him. "Brother Thurm, I have found where the pagans have fled to."

His eyes widened. "Thank the Builder for his emissary, Where?!"

"The stump which thy men couldst not destory. It is a doorway! I hath discovered a way to open this doorway, and this I have done. I found beneath it a chasm, and in this chasm, the path which our enemy's hath taken. But our path is blocked, for the evil ones destroyed the bridge which spanned a rift, rendering us unable to follow by the path which they took."

The light came back into Brother Thurm's eyes as I said this, and the captain emerged as well, having heard. I didn't realize it at the time, but my Hammerite accent had returned. The captain spoke from over my shoulder. "Excellent! No barrier shalt stand between us and our foe! We shall conquer it and victory shall be ours!"

I turned to him. "Thou shoust be warned, captain, for this is no simple barrier. The passageway which leads to this chasm is indeed narrow. It would require many days and nights build a bridge using material and tools small enough to fit through this crack in the ground!

Brother Thrum smiled. "Then," he said, "we shalt widen the passage."

I dashed off as the two men argued as to how that foolish notion would be accomplished. It made me glad, though. They had hope once more, and a new chance to prove that their technology would defeat the forces of chaos once more. However anything they had in mind would take too long. I had to act fast, very fast. I could not allow this Lady and her minions to escape once more. I made my way to Richen and the horse. Richen has not gone to sleep either.

"Richen, I need to use Suzy," I said, as I was untying her.

"Er? Of course, Dan, She's yer 'orse!"

"Thank you!" I shouted, and then mounted and took off down the road.

At this speed, I should take me a little over three hours to get to my tower. If I gave myself thirty minutes to get geared up, I would be back here before sunrise. I just hoped that it wouldn't be too late then.