Chapter 34 No Chance
NO CHANCE
Lark trailed Ezra’s fresh tracks through the snow.
Red Lodge came into view beyond the trees.
The buildings sprawled across the bottom of a river valley rimmed by snow-covered mountains to the north.
A sprawling stone fortress with turrets, thick protective walls, and a large open courtyard just within the gates jutted out from the southeastern edge of the predominantly orcin city.
By Lark’s estimate, Red Lodge was roughly half the size of Astral City or Stormwatch.
The knowledge that Omirre, shadow terrors, and a goblin horde were lurking just beneath the surface of the forest, not more than a few hundred yards away from the fortress and edge of the city, raised the hairs on the back of her neck.
She shivered, not just from the chill of the northern air, but also with the realization that there must be even worse creatures here in the North to keep these monsters confined to the underground network of mines.
Ezra’s tracks led Lark out of the long shadows of the Everburning Forest, away from and around the far eastern edge of the city until they settled on a snowy hilltop in the shadow of the mountains.
From this vantage point, the dwarf had a perfect view of the city.
Brush blanketed the hillside under a small snow ghost forest skirting the mountains.
Lark kept her footfalls light, tracing Ezra’s and hoping these weren’t the wayward tracks of a creature from the mine.
The tracks ended in a cluster of thick brush ten feet in height.
As she followed the tracks toward the opening, she was unsure whether she should announce her presence.
Then she heard a crunch behind her. Lark swiveled to see the snarling bearded dwarf, with a white-knuckled grip on his hammer.
He was arching it back and then caught himself.
“Lark?”
“Ezra, it’s me, don’t—”
“Lark?” he repeated, the hammer falling to his side. “I must be hallucinating because I saw you die.”
“You’re not seeing things. It’s me. I’m here. I didn’t die,” she said.
“But, how? I watched the shadow terror drag you off the edge and drop you into the chasm as the amphiptere struck. You fell.”
“I fell, but not to my death, obviously. Omirre, the amphiptere, caught me. She flew me into her lair.”
“Omirre? But that can’t be. Omirre was an agent of chaos, an evil creature with no remorse. Her rider was slain, and she disappeared from our realm over a decade ago.”
“She knew me. Knew who I used to be,” Lark said, dipping her chin.
“Why did she save you and how did you escape?”
“She let me go.”
“You didn’t kill her?”
“No, does it matter how or why I got out or that I’m out? I’m here now,” she said.
“I won’t prod at fresh wounds. You’re here and that’s what matters. Come,” Ezra gestured for her to join him under the cover of the bush. “It’s warmer in here. The snow insulates and traps in the heat.”
He led her to the base of three hawthorns that formed a small hollow covered by branches that intertwined overhead. Thick snow clung to the bushes, creating a barrier from the elements. Looking out through a gap, they had a good view of the larger-than-average Northern city.
“How long have you been observing this place?” Lark asked.
“Long enough to have gathered some useful information we can share with our allies,” he said with a smile.
“Hardin and Venrick?” Lark asked, hope rising that they had made it through the forest.
Ezra shook his head. “I’m afraid our lads may not have made it this far. They might have assumed that we died in the fall into the mine and turned around. Hardin doesn’t have the stomach for this kind of work. It’s why he was going to Astral City in the first place. To find a hero, not become one.”
“But Venrick wouldn’t turn back,” she said.
“Now that Venrick and Ingamar have reconciled, why wouldn’t they turn around. Go back to the Keep and enroll in an academy. From what I can see, he’s more than capable of being a great Knight. If he bonded with a dragon, he’d have a good shot at becoming a Paragon, too,” Ezra said.
“He wouldn’t leave us just because we set off a trap and got stuck in the mine. He would keep trying to find us. And Ingamar,” she said.
“You and Ingamar have not bonded,” Ezra stated flatly.
“How do you know?”
“It’s true then.”
“We share a connection. Of that I am certain.”
“But you did not bond with Ingamar after he found you. You used magic, but not through his bond,” Ezra said.
“How do you know that he didn’t bond with me?”
“In that firestorm, Ingamar chose to save Venrick and leave you behind,” Ezra said.
“While you were resting, Hardin and I spoke with Venrick. He told us everything that happened. He said there was a moment in the flames where you were looking like you might turn on him, Ingamar stepped between you two, to protect him. Fortunately, you came to your senses.”
Lark remembered the event as though it were a dream. It really did happen that way. She tried to deny it, but she had no excuse.
“I know soldiers can go blind with rage in the heat of a battle, especially when the odds are stacked against them. But Ingamar chose to protect Venrick and continued to do so from then on. He flew him out to safety before going back for you. That was telling enough. When I asked Cheyanne during our encounter—”
“I thought Cheyanne only told you what you already knew about me?”
“She did. And more. She knew who you are. Or rather, she knew who you used to be,” he replied.
“Did she tell you? Does she know where my dragon is?” Lark asked.
“No, she wouldn’t say. Lark, your dragon died that day in the forest. Marcel killed him.”
Lark shook her head, turning her mental probe in on herself. She tried to dig through the fog of her memory. “He didn’t die, Ezra. He was wounded, but somehow he survived. How else can you explain how I’m still able to wield magic through our bond?”
“Venrick was there. He saw the corpse of the dragon. He wouldn’t lie about that.”
“The dragon’s body was gone when Tel’s Honor Guard returned to the scene.”
“Yet, those same Knights verified the dragon’s death.”
Lark shook her head again. “Something isn’t right. I wish I could remember,” she said.
Ezra bowed his head, letting the silence grow. A snow flurry swirled around them, stirring them to search outside. “Is there a storm coming?” Lark asked.
“None that I can see.”
A white and golden dragon flew in behind them, landing in the snow. His features mirrored Ingamar’s, only his coloring was off. Ingamar didn’t have any white scales, yet this dragon’s head, neck, shoulders and top half were a crystal white that blended in perfectly with the snow.
“Is that?” Ezra said.
“Ingamar?” Lark said, sensing the connection she felt whenever he was near.
The dragon shook. The ice shot off his scales, revealing more of Ingamar’s gold underneath.
“It is!” Lark said, running to him. He bowed his head, folding in the spines around his mane and welcomed her in with a curl of one of his wings.
“If you two aren’t bonded, why is he so loyal to you?” Ezra asked, scratching his bald head.
“He must know I was truly trying to help him and Tel before I lost my memory. That’s the only explanation. The connection we have, is no bond, but it’s as close to one as another rider can have with a dragon,” she said, hugging Ingamar around the neck. “Ingamar, you found us.”
Ingamar hummed in his throat, the sound akin to purring.
The sun passed behind the mountains as they returned to the cover of the brush. Ingamar nuzzling his snout into the entrance behind them, his breath sulphury but warm in the early evening.
“I’ve been watching the movements of several groups in the city,” Ezra said, pointing through the boughs toward Red Lodge and the fortress.
“Several groups of orcs patrol the outskirts. They move between outposts. With the snow, it’ll be easier for them to tell if anyone’s arrived from anywhere else but a main road. ”
“Unless we fly in,” Lark said.
“True. But that would be risky, seeing as we don’t know if this city has wards like Astral City or Stormwatch. Also, I’ve seen two other dragons in that fortress.”
“Two?” Lark’s jaw dropped in surprise.
“They emerge from it every once in a while, mostly staying behind its walls and out of plain sight. It seems they’ve been distracted by something inside as Ingamar approached without them becoming alert. You also were lucky to miss being seen when following my path.”
“They don’t know we’re here?”
“If they do, they don’t see us as a threat. But my guess, is they don’t know.”
“I see a fire burning in the center of the fortress. It looks like it’s coming from a courtyard,” Lark observed.
“That’s been burning since I got here. Must be getting rid of something. The dragons have re-lit it twice since I reached this spot. Whatever it is, it’s not burning very well.”
“That fortress is almost like the Keeps in Lamar, only smaller, not quite so grand-looking,” Lark said, examining the thick stone structure.
“They are just like the Keeps in Lamar. Red Lodge is an outpost on the border between the Northern Kingdoms Wintermire and Skol. There should be a magus, dragonrider, or perhaps a powerful orc sorcerer in there. They’ll have a training facility here that’s meant to prepare the troops the Nordraven sends into this region of the Everburning Forest on their quests for Yogos and Hyalites. ”
“It’s heavily fortified. I can see ranks of Morsythians down there.”
“Morsythians?”
Lark nodded.
“This is not traditionally Morsythian territory. They’ve resisted Nordraven for a long time. I wonder why they’d be aiding them now?”
“I can only guess at this from what I can see of the courtyard. The rest of Red Lodge seems to be inhabited by common orcs. A few humans are mixed in.”
“That tells us the Morsythians are only helping the Northern Kings in their quest for more Yogos and Hyalites. They’ve not settled here with the others in the community.”