In a land of dragons?” The goblin chuckled, a hint of madness there. “Best to fly right into their mouths
and be done with it, then. . . . No, to enter Grim Batol—if that is truly what mistress desires—you'll have
to follow me.”
Falstad would not hear of that and immediately protested, but Vereesa saw no choice but to do as the
goblin suggested. Kryll had led them true so far, and although she did not, of course, trust him entirely,
she felt certain that she would recognize if he tried to lead them astray. Besides, clearly the goblin wanted
nothing to do with Grim Batol himself, or else why would he have been where they had found him? Any
of his kind who served the orcs would have been in the mountain fortress, not wandering the dangerous
wilds of Khaz Modan.
And if he could lead her yet to Rhonin . . .
Having convinced herself that she chose correctly, Vereesa faced the dwarf. “I will go with him, Falstad.
It is the best—the only choice—I have.”
His broad shoulders slumping, Falstad sighed. “'Tis against my better judgment, but, aye, I'll go with
you—if only to keep an eye on this one, so I can lop off his traitorous head if I prove right!”
“Kryll, must we go on foot the entire way?”
The misshapen little creature mused for a moment, then replied, “No. Can travel some distance with
gryphon.” He gave her a smile full of teeth. “Know just where beast should land!”
Despite his apparent misgivings, Falstad started for the gryphon. “Just tell us where to go, you little
rodent. The sooner we're there, the sooner you can be on your way. . . .”
The goblin's weight added little to the powerful animal's burden, and soon the gryphon was on its way.
Falstad, of course, sat in front, the better to control his mount. Kryll sat behind him with Vereesa taking
up the rear. The elf had resheathed her sword and now held a dagger ready just in case their undesired
companion attempted something.
Yet, although the goblin's directions were not always the clearest, Vereesa saw nothing that hinted of
duplicity. He kept them near to the ground and always guided them along paths that steered them from
the open areas. In the distance, the mountains of Grim Batol grew nearer. A sense of anxiety spread
through the ranger as she realized that she approached her goal, but that anxiousness was tempered by
the fact that, even now, she had come across no sign of either Rhonin or the black dragon. Surely this
close to the mountain fortress the orcs would have been able to sight such a leviathan.
And as if thinking of dragons allowed one to conjure them up, Falstad suddenly pointed east, where a
massive form rose into the sky.
“Big!” he called. “Big and red as fresh blood! Scout from Grim Batol!”
Kryll immediately acted. “Down there!” the goblin pointed at a ravine. “Many places to hide—even for a
gryphon!”
With little other choice, the dwarf obeyed, guiding his mount earthward. The dragon's form grew larger
and larger, but Vereesa noted that the crimson beast also headed in a more northerly direction, possibly
to the very northern border of Khaz Modan, where the last desperate forces of the Horde sought to hold
back the Alliance. That made her wonder about the situation there. Had the humans begun their advance
at last? Could the Alliance itself even now be halfway to Grim Batol?
If so, it would still be too late for her purposes. Yet, the nearing presence of the Alliance might aid in one
way, if it made the orcs here concentrate on matters other than their own immediate defenses.
The gryphon alighted in the ravine, the animal instinctively seeking the shadows. No coward, the gryphon
had the sense to know when to choose a battle.
Vereesa and the others leapt off, finding their own places to hide. Kryll pressed himself against one
rocky wall, his expression that of open terror. The ranger actually found herself feeling some sympathy
for him.
They waited for several minutes, but the dragon did not fly by. After what seemed far too long a time,
the impatient ranger decided to see for herself if the beast had changed direction. Getting a proper grip
on the rock, she climbed up.
The elf saw nothing in the darkening sky, not even a speck. In fact, Vereesa suspected that they could
have departed this ravine long before, if only one of them had dared look.
“No sign?” whispered Falstad, climbing up beside her. For a dwarf, he proved himself quite nimble
crawling up the side.
“We are clear. Very much so.”
“Good! Unlike my hill cousins, I've no taste for holes in the ground!” He started down. “All right, Kryll!
The danger's done! You can peel yourself—”
The moment his voice cut off, Vereesa jerked her head around. “What is it?”
“That damned spawn of a frog's gone!” He scrambled down the rest of the way. “Vanished like a
will-o”-the-wisp!”
Dropping down as safely as she could, the ranger joined Falstad in scanning the immediate area. Sure
enough, despite the fact that they should have been able to see the goblin's retreating figure in either
direction, not one sign of Kryll existed. Even the gryphon acted baffled, as if it, too, had not even noticed
that the spindly creature had run off.
“How could he have just disappeared?”
“Wish I knew that myself, my dear elven lady! A neat trick!”
“Can your gryphon hunt him down?”
“Why not just let him go? We're better off without him!”
“Because I—”
The ground underneath her feet suddenly softened, broke apart. The elf 's boots sank deep within
Thinking that she had walked into mud, she tried to pull free. Instead, Vereesa only sank deeper, and at
an alarming rate. It almost felt as if she were beingpulleddown.
“What in the name of the Aerie—?” Falstad, too, had sunk deep, but in the dwarf 's case that meant he
suddenly stood up to his knees in dirt. Like the ranger, he attempted to extricate himself, only to
completely fail.
Vereesa grabbed for the nearest rock face, trying to seize hold. For a moment, she succeeded,
managing to slow her progress downward. Then, something powerful seemed to take hold of her ankles,
pulling with such force that the ranger could no longer keep her grip.
Above them she heard a panicked squawk. Unlike Vereesa and the dwarf, the gryphon had managed to
pull up in time to avoid being dragged under. The animal fluttered above Falstad's head, trying, it seemed,
to get a grip on its master. However, as the beast dropped lower, columns of dirt suddenly shot up,
trying, Vereesa realized in horror, to seize the mount. The gryphon narrowly escaped, forced now to fly
up so high that the animal could not possibly aid either warrior.
Which left Vereesa with no notion as to how to escape.
Already the earth came up to her waist. The thought of being buried alive set even the elf on edge, yet, in
comparison to Falstad's predicament, hers seemed slightly less immediate. The dwarf 's shorter stature
meant that he already had trouble keeping his head above ground. Try as he might, even the mighty
strength of the gryphon-rider could not help him. He grabbed furiously at the soft earth, ripping up
handfuls that did him no good whatsoever.
In desperation, the ranger reached out. “Falstad! My hand! Reach for it!”
He tried. They both tried. The gap between them had grown too great, however. In growing horror,
Vereesa watched as her struggling companion was inevitably pulled under.
“My—” was all he managed before disappearing from sight.
Now buried up to her chest, she froze for a moment, staring at the slight mound of dirt that was all that
remained to mark his passage. The ground there did not even stir. No last thrust of a hand, no wild
movement underneath.
“Falstad . . .” she murmured.
Renewed force at her ankles tugged her deeper. As the dwarf had done, Vereesa snatched at the earth
around her, digging deep valleys with her fingers but doing herself no good. Her shoulders sank in. She
lifted her head skyward. Of the gryphon she saw no sign, but another figure, so very familiar, now leaned
out from a small crevice that the elf had missed earlier.
Even in the waning light, she could see Kryll's toothy smile.
“Forgive me, my mistress, but the dark one insists that no one interfere, and so he left me the task of
seeing to your deaths! A menial bit of work and one undeserving of a clever mind such as mine, but my
master does, after all, have very large teeth and so sharp claws! I certainly couldn't refuse him, could I?”
His grin stretched wider. “I hope you understand. . . .”
“Damn you—”
The ground swallowed her up. Dirt filled the elf 's mouth, then, seemingly, her hungry lungs.
She blacked out.
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