In Caldhelm's Shadow

[Otto]

Open to Solar Haven.



The hills

"Will you stop that?"

Otto paused, hammer in one hand and walnut in the other. The wrinkly little pod lay pincered in his fingers, flat against the lip of their wagon - more or less. The fact that the wagon was in the process of trundling over a stretch of poorly-maintained country road meant that, more often than not, the nut did not lay, and certainly not flat. Had most anyone else been cracking nuts in this manner, their hands would have long since turned to the consistency of raw mince. Not Otto, though. He looked up at the man who had spoken, whose face was just a mere hint of beady eyes behind a beard like a waterfall. At that moment, the cart hit a pothole, lurched sickeningly, and the hammer jerked down with a resounding crack. The other nine faces on the cart grimaced with shared pain.

"Gods, Bastard," growled the wall of beard, who began to fossick around in his pack. "Reckon we can make a splint, at the least..."

Otto laid the long warhammer across his lap. The other fellow trailed off when Otto held up the freshly-split nut in one hand, while next to it, he freely waggled the fingers of his other.

The fellow's eyes narrowed. "You weren't even looking at it!"

Otto shrugged. "You just have to swing in to the bumps," he said. "But it takes practice. Speaking of which..."

He selected another walnut from a bag, and the cart trundled on.

Their convoy had been ambling along a stretch of beaten dirt road since just before daybreak, meandering lazily around gentle, grassy hills and neat little coppices. Even now, the sun had not been up above the horizon for long, and the rolling landscape was yet full of long shadows. Dew sparkled on the verdant knolls, the air had that crisp, fresh, damp smell you got just at the start of the day, and the breeze blowing from inland still retained just a hint of the long night's chill. If you strained your eyes to the west, you could just make out a gradient of colour in the sky; brilliant ultramarine, through sea-grey, to dull navy on the horizon. Night had yet to fully recede before the dawn. Otto stared at it, then looked down at the other long wagon rumbling along behind them, also full of soldiers. Both carts were pulled by a pair of incredibly stout horses. Otto tried to remember what he had heard them called. 'Clydesdale', or something like it.

"So," said someone else, dispelling the short spot of tranquillity. "What do think it is?"

"My money's on bandits," replied a fellow lounging at the front. His name was Jerome Wildens, but was usually just referred to as 'Squints'. The man was something of scholar, and probably the only one in the taskforce who'd use a book for more than just kindling or personal hygiene. Squints knew things. One of the things he'd known was the origin of the word 'bastum', and so had been born, long ago, Otto's own moniker amongst his fellow grunts. "Still a lot of mess and confusion out here, even now," he went on. "Plenty of opportunities for good, old-fashioned banditry."

The first speaker, a Private Burke, found the reasoning to be unsatisfactory. "Yes, but the whole village?"

Otto sniffed, and wrinkled his nose. "War stirred up more than just looters," he muttered. They were just passing a dead rabbit on the side of the road, so he did his best not to take any deep breaths for a while.

"We don't actually know what has happened at Caldhelm," Squints retorted. "All we know is that no messages or traffic is coming out."

"Then whatever's killed them must still be there, right?" asked Burke. With a name like that, the rest of the team hadn't bothered to come up with anything else to call him.

Squints sighed. "Assuming that they're dead. Could be that the bandits just aren't letting anyone leave. We'll see when we get there."

Otto tuned out. These days, he thought of himself more as a beat cop than a soldier of the CAF. Though the military was, technically, tasked with both these roles, the orc harboured a swelling suspicion that they were mutually exclusive. As a footslogger in the war, he'd had the higher thought processes practically beaten out of him, so that nothing got in the way of obeying orders immediately and without hesitation. The watch, however, demanded a different approach. You could get away with some really creative interpretations when it came to orders, and you were always thinking ahead - deciding which mode of questioning would get you what you needed, where to focus your search efforts, who to interrogate, and so on. A soldier who thought too far ahead might get nervy at what he saw. For these reasons, Otto was always a little confused as to why the Brass roped him in for missions like this one. Perhaps, because his record was full of such assignments, they thought that he would know what he was doing.

A mounted figure reined in from the front of the convoy, all shimmering breastplate and walrus moustache. The drivers slowed to a stop, side by side, and the officer trotted his horse to the rear of the carts.

"Cut it out, Bastum, or I'll save time and break your fingers myself," said Captain Willet, in a cheerful, chummy sort of way. Otto ripped off a smart salute.

"Yessir. Walnut, sir?"

"Thank you, Bastum, don't mind if I do." The captain then continued, muffledly, "The scouts reported the area to be clear for another two miles, which is our next rendezvous point with them. From there, it should be just another hour's trip to the outskirts of Caldhelm. Off the carts, now gentlemen, and keep your eyes peeled. Sergeant Hooksworth, your squad to the front. Sergeant Tarquin, you'll form rearguard."

With just the minimal amount of required grumbling, the soldiers hopped and slid off their transport, leaving it empty save for the assorted supplies that they had brought with them. One half of the soldiers formed rank at the front, two abreast and five deep, while the rest formed up behind the carts. When they were all in position, Captain Willet flourished his sabre, which caused the sergeants to bark commands, and for the whole convoy to start up a steady pace once again.

The sun inched its way slowly higher.

[Solar Haven]

Adonis sighed as he sat atop a hill overlooking Caldhelm as the sun rose, he was clearly in Caldhem's shadow. The young Mage sauntered into town on horse back checking all the windows as he went, checking for signs of life. He sighed as he slid of the side of the horse and walked it over to the tavern in town, this truly was a ghost town. He walked into the bar and saw a mess, like there was a massive struggle in here. He sat at the bar, his head still pounding after his night of drinking. The young Mage had felt it necessary to drink copious amounts of alcohol, after his utter defeat in the Cell torn into three pieces was one horrible way to go. Kit was sitting on the table next to him looking up at his young master, worried. Adonis closed his eyes and recalled what had brought him out this way.

<12 Hours before>

"You heard the story about Caldhelm?" came a voice from a table nearby.

"No, what's going on? I have family out there." Began a second voice.

"Apparently, there is no messages coming out from there. anyone that tries to find out why had just disappeared, They are sending several soldiers to investigate what is going on. they are leaving town in the morning to get out there." The first voice continued

"I need to go, I need to make sure my family is okay!" the concerned man said as he got up quickly.

"What do you expect to do? EVERYONE who has gone into that town has vanished in one way or another, you would just be another casualty to this thing. wait until the army reports back." The first man urged.

"I can't just sit around and do nothing" the now near hysterical guy said as he neared the door.

A table picked itself up and launched itself in front of the door, hovering there, stopping the man from leaving.

"You would do best to sit back down" Adonis said as he stood up, head facing the floor still. "as your friend there said, you will only become another number. eventually no one will remember your name, instead just another guy the disappeared doing something foolish. If you want to know what is going on then wait!" the Young mage sauntered towards him and snapped his fingers, moving the table back to its placement as he walked out the front door and took a deep breath.

"Why?! why should I just sit around and drink when no one knows what is going on out in Caldhelm, My family could be dead!" the now irate man demanded from the inebriated mage.

"Exactly why you should wait, if your family is dead and you rush out there knowing nothing. you will end up just like them. do you really want to be just another number?" Adonis asked as he leaned up against a pillar and took a deep breath, trying to stop the urge to puke.

"well, when you put it that way... what's your name?" The man slowly replied

"Adonis, Now if you don't mind I need to go find a horse" He answered as he fell down the steps, Kit who was on the front patio with them, covered his head with his paws and jumped down next to his master.

"You seem a little too drunk to be going anywhere, Adonis. Where are you going?" The man sighed as he looked at the limp body of the drunk man in front of him.

"Where else would I go? Caldhelm! if I don't nobody will know what is happening out there, and I don't want to disappoint people" Adonis slurred as he slowly removed his face from the dirt.

"You? are going to Caldhelm? even after just talking me out of going!" The man cried out as Adonis brushed himself off.

"there is a little difference between you and me though." Adonis said as his hand began glowing a light brown, within seconds a dirt wall raised from the ground mere inches in front of him. "I am a BattleMage, I can hold my own in melee combat. And as you just saw, I can use magic. so unless you can use a sword or use magic... stay here, I don't want to have to protect you"

The man from the bar was shocked, a three foot thick wall had just appeared in front of him. Let alone this boy just shrugged it off like an everyday occurrence he wasn't sure what to say, but he knew what to do. "If you are looking for a horse take mine... apparently I am going nowhere. If you are going to find out what happened to my family, I will gladly lend you my horse."

Adonis turned around and looked at the man with inquiry in his eyes.

"Yes I am sure, just bring me back my horse with whatever news you find out. and for the love of the Thaynes don't disappear like all the others." The man said as he saw the look in the battlemage's eyes.

Adonis smirked as he followed the man to his horse and mounted up, Kit on his shoulder. "I promise I will be back, with some form of information." Adonis took off at a full gallop towards Caldhelm. The path was long and tiresome, he already had a lack of sleep pushing him down. now he had a hangover that would hinder his reaction time, it wasnt his brightest plan. He opened his eyes and surveyed the tavern again. The tavern had clearly seen better days, Tables were thrown around bottles and mugs littered the floor. Adonis shivered as Kit jumped off his shoulder and began sniffing around and exploring the area.

"Don't worry Kit, I will get this fire going and then we will go upstairs, see if anything in the rooms can tell us what happened here." Adonis shuddered again as the morning chill was permeating his clothes. He spotted a stone fireplace in the corner of the room and quickly rushed to it and surveyed the area. He was in luck there was matches nearby and the wood was put out before the fire had completely destroyed what was there. Based on his time in the forest with Kit he estimated that they had about an hour worth of flame before they had to throw on more wood. The hungover Battlemage gathered some tinder and lit a match. With the fire now going and the tavern slowly heating up, he turned his attention to his job at hand.

"Kit, come on boy let's head upstairs. if there was a struggle here we may find some clues upstairs that was left behind." Kit made a noise of acknowledgement and quickly scooted up the stairs with Adonis close behind him. they had been in and out of many rooms scrounging through what they could when they came upon a ripped piece of paper. Adonis sat on the bed and read it out loud.

"When the Shadows walk the earth, Man will be tested. If Man fails the test, he will be consumed and made shadow" The still hungover mage crooked an eyebrow and looked up at the opposing wall as he repeated it again to himself slowly. "I wonder what that means? Shadows cant walk, at least, not on their own."

He turned his head as he heard a ruckus outside, clattering of metal, and orders being barked. He had completely forgotten that the Military was on their way and he unsheathed his sword heading downstairs as cautiously as he could.

[Otto]

The road

Twenty heavy infantry tend, on a sunny, dry day like this, to prove difficult to hide. Anyone with a clear view of the road of sparse wood at its side would no doubt be able to make out the glimmer of sun on metal, and their heavy boots plumed fine dust into the air. So it was that the soldiers slogged on to some point a healthy distance from the town of Caldhelm, masked by the curves of the land, where they halted and awaited for the much more subtle scouts to report back.

They had stopped off to the side of the road, in a dense stand of ash. A few minutes' searching had yielded a small painted stone token tucked away in the groundcover, which marked the rendezvous spot. Now the majority of Otto's fellows were making the most of the short break by settling down into the shade, loosening their armour, and maybe breaking out a pack of cards. The rest manned the perimeter and kept an eye out for either the scouts or other, less-than-friendly parties. Otto found a moss-covered stone which seemed to catch a bit of breeze, and settled down upon it. It was silent there in the trees. The soldiers had lit no fire, spoke only in hushed voices, and busied themselves with small, quiet tasks. Otto occupied himself by snuffling at the wind.

The path acted as a funnel, carrying the breeze and smells from all along the woods with it. Traces of it leaked past the sprawling trunks and branches; lots of dust, the faintest hint of lingering dew, rich leaf mould and humus, and - perhaps - a trace of honey? As Otto pondered that, a bee droned lazily past his ear and settled on a nearby clump of thistle. Probably a hive close by, he reckoned.

A generic sort of birdcall trilled through the rustling leaves, much closer and conspicuous than the distant chatter of unknown ornifauna. Each and every soldier leapt up immediately, adjusting their kit and stuffing away dice and cards. Otto hefted his large hammer and gave the air another sniff, but it was impossible to pick apart any other animal scents from the sweaty fug emitted by his brothers in arms. He was thus quite unprepared for the two dusty figures who emerged from the foliage several feet away. He startled, but the scouts weren't paying any attention to him, focusing instead on Captain Willet as the man strode smartly forward.

"Well then," he said gleefully, and rubbed his hands together. "How are we looking?"

The scouts echanged a brief, nonplussed glance, before the shorter of the two took a step to the front.

"There's nothing, sir," said the man, lowering his salute. "There are a fair few tracks leading out, but nothing to indicate a sizeable force has moved in - no old campsites or litter in the surrounding area."

"And the town itself?"

The scout frowned. "Empty. Completely and utterly. We watched from cover for a few hours, then moved in towards the outlying buildings. About the only thing we found were animals-"

"-what was left of them, anyway," the other scout interjected. Willet turned his gaze to him.

"Slaughtered?" asked the captain.

The senior scout shook his head. "From the looks of it, they'd died from exposure. There's nobody there to feed or water them, so those as couldn't escape look to have just starved."

Willet rubbed his chin. "Hmm."

That didn't make sense to Otto. If the town had been raided, you took the animals with you - it was a mean existence, living in the wilderness and always being on the move, trying to avoid other bands of armed men whose interest in you was the sort that involved seeing how many holes they could poke in you. Otto knew firsthand that supplies were an ever-present problem, and livestock were worth much more than any amount of gold or gems. And if they had taken over the town, why let such precious resources waste away like that?

At length, Willet wrapped up whatever internal debate he was waging and turned to his lieutenant.

"TEN-SHUN!" bellowed the junior officer. "Fall in!"

With the sound of rustling mail and thumping boots, the mixed bag of soldiers shuffled into orderly ranks before the captain. Once they were all in place and at attention, Willet cast a keen eye over them for another few seconds before breaking the silence.

"Caldhelm is empty, apparently. We will use the road for the rest of the way, in that case. Corporal, have your scouts continue to obvserve the settlement and be ready to alert us of any development should one arise. Fall out!"



* * *



The fields

The sun had a healthy gap between it and the horizon now. Its light had grown harsher and stronger from the watery stuff of early morning, dispelling the refreshing chill of dawn to replace it with a grating, gnawing burn. Underneath it on the dusty road, men perspired under the bulk of their mail coats and squinted against the glare. Captain Willet trotted along at the fore, his burnished helm occasionally catching the sun and filling the vision of those behind him with black and purple after-images.

The woods gave way to pasture and furrowed fields. Pale shoots of wheat and barley whisked around in the breeze and blocked their sight of the town, until they turned around a bend and saw, through a gap in the gently rolling mounds, a distant glimpse of huddled buildings, some squat towers, and -

"Smoke," muttered Willet. The procession came to a halt, and Otto soon saw why. A camouflaged figure was jogging up the road towards them.

It was the corporal from before. He came to a halt beside Willet's steed and ripped off a salute.

"Hello again, corporal," said the captain. "I thought you said the town was empty?"

"Aye, sir, and it was. Someone arrived on horseback while I was reporting to you, and headed to the inn. The fire started shortly after."

"And you still consider Caldhelm to be deserted apart from that?"

The scout nodded. "Yessir."

Willet sighed. "Alright, then. Return to your stations, and keep an eye out for any other movemet. I'll take these lads and raid the inn. Probablt just some looter, but we'd better question him just the same. Dismissed, corporal."

The scout saluted once more and ran off back down the track. A moment later, the score of soldiers followed in his steps.

[Solar Haven]

Adonis quickly molded some magic in his hand as both Kit and himself quietly strode down the stairs and into the main pub area. The dust was still in the air from where kit and himself had kicked it up. Adonis looked at the front door as three men clad in armor burst in through the front door. Well three men would be an understatement, one who obviously led the group, was an Half-orc and stood much more imposing over the rest.

“Freeze! You are under arrest!” Spouted one of the guards. Kit jumped onto a nearby table and started growling at them.

“sorry, can't let you arrest me...” Adonis smirked as he threw his hand up into the air. A wall of dirt erupted behind the three guardsmen separating them from any reinforcements. The two Guardsmen looked behind them as the dirt wall roared to life behind them, the Half-orc in the middle barely glanced its way.

“Get him!” one of the foolish guardsmen cried out as he charged towards Adonis. Kit lept on one Guardsmen and started scratching and biting his face. The guardsmen could probably be heard crying out in agony from the next town over. Adonis smirked as he quickly snapped his fingers and raised one floor board up about an inch, just enough to trip up the advancing guardsmen. Adonis made a fist and just before he impacted the guardsmen skull he snapped the fingers on his left hand and a bright light erupted for a fraction of a second. As Adonis' fist collided with the Guardsmen sending him into the air. The guardsmen looked like he had attempted to do a back flip but fail as he landed on his back on top of a table.

Adonis looked over at Kit as he was luring the Guard over to the stone fireplace, Adonis closed his eyes and molded more magic in his hand. The grout between the rocks may have been altered by man, but the stones themselves weren’t. He quickly washed his fist from right to left as a pillar of stone erupted from the fireplace hitting the guardsmen in the face, knocking him unconscious.

“I am here to solve the mystery, not to fight. However, if you and your men want to be used as a warmup before I start solving this mystery. I would be happy to oblige the poor men” Adonis smirked as he looked at the Half-orc still in front of the dirt wall, watching what had just went down.

[Otto]

"They aren't my men, boyo." Otto took a step forward, but rather than attempt to swing the long hammer he held gripped with both hands, knelt down beside his stricken comrade. Behind him he could hear Burke push himself off the table and take a few determined steps forward, and behind that, the heavy tattoo of twenty soldiers kicking in the remaining doors and poking every shadow for occupants.

"You little shit," Burke growled. "Wait till we get you in irons-"

"Easy, now, Burke," Otto muttered. He parted the downed man's lids with a delicate paw, and waved the top of his hammer vaguely around before his eyes. "Sergeant Hooksworth? Can you hear me?"

Hooksworth's pupils quavered at first, then focused on the weaving hammerhead, albeit with a noticeable delay. "Wassat? Barstud, 'at you?"

"Concussion," said Otto, in a much more relieved tone of voice. "Downed by a rodent, sarge? Not something I ever thought to see."

"Bloody solid rodent," Hooksworth mumbled.

"It's actually a - " Adonis tried to speak, but Otto waved a dismissive hand at him.

There was the distinct sound of accumulating feet on the other side of the barrier. Otto took it properly in for the first time; an unholy and forsaken mix of ancient sawdust and rotting rushes, both of which had been filled to capacity - and then some - with stale beer and crude hootch. As he watched, the orc saw a small, black beetle scramble clumsily out from behind a primordial stalk, legs waving frantically in a bid for less mobile habitats.

"Damned witch," Burke growled. He spat sidewise into the hearth. "Seems like just the thing one of them'd be behind."

Adonis raised an eyebrow warningly, then jerked his hands toward the soldier. Burke paled and staggered back, before he realised that nothing had happened. In just another split second, his face flushed an even deeper red than before. Otto had never seen anything like it.

"I'm guessing with him down, you're the ranking soldier, then?" Adonis asked of Otto. "And if so, what say you?"

Otto didn't give any obvious reply. His lupine eyes roved up and down the lad's coiled frame, stopping momentarily and with a frown on the scabbard at the other man's waist.

"Sergeant Hooksworth!" called a voice from the other side.

Burke rolled his shoulders, and began a reply. "Captain, sir, sergeant Hooksworth - "

" - took a bad fall," Otto finished. Private Burke looked about ready to explode, but a glare from the orc silenced him.

"Hooksworth?" the voice persisted.

"Aye, sir," said the sergeant. Otto stood and helped him find his feet. "Loose floorboard under the sawdust, or summat."

Otto caught Adonis' eye and jerked his head in the direction of the wall. The lad took the hint, and the barrier immediately collapsed back into a small mound of choking dust and reeds. All those nearby coughed and spluttered, none more so than Otto, who sneezed eye-wateringly a couple of times. Old beer wasn't the worst of it - he was pretty sure that someone had been pissing in it, too. Every night, judging by the stink. Through his swimming eyes, Otto saw the youth's shoulders sag. He hadn't realised how much strain the trick seemed to put on Adonis until just then.

Revealed beyond was a sorry country tavern, full of scratch-marked tables, rough-hewn beams and windows that looked to have last been cleaned when the elves had been watching all those strange, bald apes coming off the boat. And soldiers. It was hard to miss the soldiers.

Captain Willet took a step forward from the crowd. His suit of armour looked completely out of place amidst the grime and gloom surrounding them - one could even see Otto's face reflected in it, if for some reason strange fancy took them that way. "Wildens - find the sergeant a bed and keep an eye on him. Actually, find a few, and choose the cleanest. And who's this?"

Hooksworth brushed Otto's supportive arm away irately, and shuffled away in Private Wildens' wake. "Not sure, sir," said the orc. "Mage of some sort, says he's here to investigate."

Willet turned his full attention to Adonis. "Oh? What a coincidence."