Laria vanished before Anneleigh could even
say a word leaving the wood even darker and quieter in her absences. Anneleigh, unable to retrain her thoughts,
stood in the darkened wood, motionless, mind empty, until the sound of a
falling tree returned her to the present.
Chastising herself and giving her head a shake, she went off to
investigate the disturbance.
Not far from Laria’s alter was a rather
large encampment of goblin formed at the base of a large hill, or small mountain
– Anneleigh could not be sure which. Atop the rise,
only visible in silhouette, was a large structure she could not place a name to. Nothing in her memory had a similar shape; it
did not resemble any building she had ever seen, yet it also was too structured
to be natural.
“Perhaps these are the standing stones Laenaya mentioned.”
Anneleigh considered. Curious, she
approached the base of the hill, being careful not to alert the goblins to her presence.
When she crested the hill, Anneleigh’s breath caught in her
chest. Now that she was at eye level she
was able to see the structure clearly – a large semi-circle of huge cut rocks,
standing on end or atop one another.
Anneleigh believed she would later describe it as an outdoor, open air
cathedral.
She approached from the tree line and watched from behind
one of the massive pillars. Inside the
structure, between its pillars and, indeed, everywhere she looked, were the
wanton goblins, chipping away at the stones and carting off its debris. Anneleigh looked and, sure enough, the pillar
she crouched behind had been chipped away as well, leaving several large and
jagged craters in the otherwise smooth stone.
Anneleigh took the handle of her dagger and quietly chipped away a piece
of the stone to bring back to Laenaya. As
it left the standing stone, the smaller piece seemed to glow blue for a moment
before returning to its natural color.
Anneleigh descended the hill in the direction she had come,
but decided to observe the goblins making cap at the base of the hill, encase
there was more information to be learned from their actions. She took up watch from a natural blind she
found in a small bush. It was a trick
she had often used while hunting in her earlier life. She knew that pray were observant to their
surroundings. Those few times she set
out a new blind, something she built or brought, they were more aware of her
and more inclined to spook easily. As she worked her way into the undergrowth
she recalled the particularly heartbreaking moment she lost the prize stag,
which she had been hunting for several days.
Since then, she always attributed that loss with a failure to understand
her pray.
She watched the goblins as they moved around the camp. They busied themselves with stoking a fire
and patching tents, the usual tasks any would do to maintain their camp. Anneleigh’s legs grew stiff and her eyes
stung from staring through the darkness, but she remained in her hide for what
felt like over an hour. Just as she was
beginning to believe the camp was simply a staging area for the goblins who
mined the standing stones, eight to ten goblins marched into camp, carrying a
treant on their shoulders.
Anneleigh gasped.
Treants are not easy prey. They
would not have struck it down and carried its heavy body back into camp unless
it was useful to their plot.
While the goblins attention was focused on their prize,
Anneleigh worked her way out of the blind and back onto the path to Gnarlwood
post. As she approached the growing light of the
Gnarlwood wardstone, she considered the possibility that Laenaya would need
both reagents to uncover their use. She
let out a small groan of displeasure and slumped back into the forest; it would
be unlikely that the guard would have a sample of treant lying around for their
use.
Anneleigh found a small clearing with many different variations
of the magical creature. She despised
the thought of killing something so innocent but then remembered Laria’s
earlier words about the corruption of the forest. If these treants were truly touched by the
plane of death, they would no longer be an innocent kill. In fact, Anneleigh reminded herself, their
death may actually help bring Laria out of her weakened state.
She approached a treant similar in style to the one brought
into the goblin camp. Willowy and tall,
it seemed the easier of the variants to kill.
She took up her bow and arrow and
planted a shot directly at the base of the neck. The large form fell forward and landed with a
crash. Anneleigh smiled to herself, not
because of her prowess with the arrow, but because she now was able to put the
pieces of the day together. “The
goblins must have been struggling to return their prize to camp for the better
part of the day, if I am right in thinking I heard the crash of their successful
kill earlier this morning. “ She thought to herself.
Anneleigh pulled a few large leaves from the nearest tree
and gathered sap and swigs from the large corpse; Knowing they were
death-touched, she was hesitant to touch the items directly. Weighed down with everything she believed the
goblins required for their plot, she returned to Laenaya.
The Guardian guard nodded in sadness as Anneleigh recounted
her assumption. “I, too, believe these
reagents are the key ingredients for something foul. I’ve warred against goblins, treated venomous
wounds, and choked on poison gas. This is
worse. The toxic mixture of treant sap
and Standing Stones dust is very unstable.”
Before Anneleigh could object, she spread the mixture along her
arm. For a moment, nothing happened.
Then Laenaya grew in height and her muscles bulged.
“Why did you do that?” Anneleigh gasped. “That could have been really dangerous.”
Laenaya smiled down at Anneleigh. “It was the only way. We had to know what the concoction did. Now we know the alchemists manufactured a
poison that enhances their strength, we will better know what we are up against. If this poison spreads among their armies,
our regiment will fall, and Gloamwood will burn. Good thing we are here to stop them before
that happens. This venom is too potent
a weapon to leave in goblin hands. We
must take the fight to the Darkening Deeps, home to the goblin armies that
pillage Gloamwood, and destroy their stockpile.”
Anneleigh sighed.
She knew Laenaya was right, but her self-sacrifice seemed such a waste.
“Don’t look at me like that, Ascended.” Laenaya said. “Go find Sharla. She’ll bring you up to speed on the Darkening
Deeps.”
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