109 Shadow - The Heart of The Drow
They were sent to the very heart of heavily defended fortress at the border with unsociable land. It was a
wide area in the south-west. No one dared to wander there, only beast and monsters lived in that place.
But when they disappeared the dark elven community became suspicious. Beasts started to vanish in a
matter of weeks, and the first scouting party didn’t return. It was unbelievable! Then a full squad left their
land to resolve this incredible incident. And after a while they were deadly trapped. Only few survived.
Those who did come back reported about a huge army of previously unknown creatures that settled
the old ruins of human kingdom, destroyed long ago.
The best from the Shadow guild. They like no one other suited to this task. When sad news about the
defeat of a whole best trained dark elven squad came to the ruling house, it made a scandal. Later they
realized - a good scouting and cunning would do the trick, before sending an army. There was no
necessity to waste so many men if things could be better defeating the enemy right from inside.
At daylight they slept, at night moved forward. It was difficult to find them - masters of disguise and
shadow handlers, could vanish at plain sight and the next you see is your last. At night drow can see
much better than other races, that’s why there were no equals for them under the moon or in dark areas.
The Shadow guild made the house of Veltirizy pay quite a sum for their services; never obeying anyone,
except their shadow brethren, they easily could usurp the throne, but politics and court intrigues were
the least they wanted, only the shine of gold and precious jewelry was their friend, especially when the
treasury was full. Only they could dictate conditions to the ruling house and make a profit of it.
At the four day morning they arrived to the cliff. It was a chain of hills that smoothly outgrew in a
mountain range, cutting the ocean in the west. The castle was located in a recess of the mountains,
and there was no option to approach it unseen directly, almost impossible. But there was an old sewer
tunnels that had its beginning in the ocean, underwater.
An hour passed and the necessary place was found. They penetrated the darkly cave, getting wet to skin.
The mage that was with them quickly eliminated this trouble, as he did to the griddle at the entrance.
Now nothing stood in their way to be unnoticed.
The way led them upwards, and the tunnel reminded them of a snake passage, sometimes they needed
to climb vertically. It was pleased to know that this way was completely dry and no one have used it for a
century. There was no need in a light source for a drow here, but nonetheless the mage released a small
blue glowing sphere.
The tunnel roughly changed its course and became more horizontal. Also other smaller branches of the
former sewage system sided with it, but only rats could get through. After another half an hour they
reached a vaulted room, where the most of other tunnels made its way down here from the castle,
troughs were still dry.
The next several minutes party tried to figure out which way to choose. A lot of passages, and maybe
more if to choose the main one. They didn’t want to split the party so decided to move along the most
worse, unfeeling and hard to reach. And they found it was right nearby to the right. It was really difficult
to climb up there, especially when it was sloped, but the chosen path met their expectations. The way
ended up in an abandoned prison kitchen, which was impregnated with barely perceptible fetid stench,
which reigned here for centuries. Of course it’s not the spot they wished to get, but it was good enough.
Searching for the right way could take days, which they didn’t have.
Now is the time for the most interesting part - an indescribable feeling being a part of a shadow and
cutting down unsuspecting victims. In the past, a lot of thieves, orcs and barbarians settled here, so this
three knew this castle like their own. That’s why there was no trouble getting to the first tier - the circle of
artisans. Here masters forged fine steel and iron, tanned leather and crafted furniture. Also it was a perfect
place for trade. Half of their way was already behind.
This tier is jammed of strange and unknown creatures. They had mighty constitution, six arms, four legs
hinged at the right angle and heartwarming long forelocks hanging from the center of their bald. Therefore
the drow picked up roofs and vaulted ledges instead of wandering the streets. Nevertheless they were already
half way through towards the next tier.
At night those creatures did almost nothing, assassins could only imagine what was going on here during
the day. Staying undetected would be very hard.
Three ways led to the second tier - two by the sides that supported the cliffs and one central spiral stairway.
They were close to the central one and it was the safest. It was also possible to climb up here by the outskirts
of the stairway using numerous ledges, surrounding towers and even hanging chains.
Not an easy way up and there they went, second tier. A long time ago there lied houses of minor nobility and
living quarters. Now, however, it doesn’t matter, as the six-handed made barracks and training grounds out
of it. They had to find a way to the covered part of the castle, staying under the moon was not reasonable.
A clumsy fellow overturned a pile of empty barrels, making a lot of unwanted attention not far away, but the
good news was, that the dark elves already slipped into the nearest corridor. However a somewhat different
gink made his way through here, perhaps to punish a noise maker. Those who were outside of here had a
reddish skin, this one had blue, and was a bit bigger. An elite?..
Of course he noticed them - three thin bodies, which occupied a half of the pathway. He wasn’t a smarty
one and decided to attack first.
Dance with shadows. Their beloved game. They cut, stabbed him by their magic swords, deflecting all of
his swings. Every his attempt to catch them turned out for another kick and a new wound, being twice as
high and obviously stronger, he just couldn’t resist the onslaught.
The big one started to panic, and finally tried to call for help, but the suddenly pierced throat made no sound.
Fast, silent, deadly, with no trace.
His body was dragged and locked up in a small storeroom, after what they climbed up the roofs and proceed
creeping along the edges.
Now with some relief and understanding the opponent they moved along further. A series of passages, halls,
again passages and finally the galleries. Passing along several chambers, which were carved directly in the cliff,
assassins masterfully made their way to the next tier. Hiding here became more risky, sometimes they were
forced to throw away a decoy to distract. Soon they had to get to the only one way up - half-moon stairway.
It was called so due to mountain heritage, being a part of it and stretched all along its castle side, thereby
separating commoners from the nobility. The higher you are - the more valuable the life of the citizen, this
custom was adopted by six-handers too.
Now the castle looked like standard tight human city. Less area for a bigger number of nobility - not everyone
could fit in here, so they climbed on each other’s head, building more and more upwards, as gracefully as
they could. Nowadays it’s all ruins turning into dust year after a year. Fortunately it gave a lot of probabilities
to stick to the shadow.
Alchemical stores, magic schools, elite leisure houses and fighting clubs were the most influential here, every
in his part of the sector. Hopefully there have been far fewer guards here, that was good enough, but mostly
the blues inhabited this area.
They speeded up, understanding that the dawn would soon be upon them. And a return to the sewers would
be great also by that time. Shadow after shadow, a street after a street led them to the last tier, where there
was only one entrance. And it was at everyone’s sight. They say, this stairway can be seen right from the city
gates - wide - and it leads into overhanging rock.
One had nothing to do but climb the rock and move, creeping along the stairs is most unlikely. They definitely
didn’t want an army of monsters here.
It was pleasant to spectate fires down below, the fog by the city walls and how it spread far away and an elite
solider that observed these three climbing the rock from this height.
He had thrown something and missed. That thing made a lot of noise that dinged and tinkled all the way down
announcing every step.
The drow jumped off the cliff and attacked the big one, killing it two times faster than before. Now they
understood, that someone would break the alarm, every minute was significant.
The surprise effect melted with every blink. Here and there six-handers spotted the drow, crying about the
infiltration. Things were very bad. The halls of the leaders were not far from here now, but still unreachable.
The only way was to climb up the walls and break in through windows. A few jumps and they penetrated the
three-way arch that served as an oriel in someone’s chambers.
The next was easy - a sleeping blue guy wouldn’t weak up any more and they moved further. Corridors changed
by hallways, and those turned out often with a dead-end. It was hard to find a proper way here, rather than three
tiers below. Yet they managed to reach the main hall with two guards that didn’t have time to notice them before.
The first one fell fast, second took some time to deal with.
The most perfect door carving evidenced the king chambers…